


The Adventures of Dick and Jane

by IdShipThis



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Family, Fluff, Gen, Original Character - Freeform, just me and my feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2019-10-15 07:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 21,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17524415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdShipThis/pseuds/IdShipThis
Summary: Different stages of Bluesey fluff in no particular order. All the same universe. Probably.





	1. Ordinary Magic

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. I just read The Raven Cycle and this is what I do with my feelings. Goodbye.

Richard Campbell Gansey IV did not like to be called by that name, thank you very much. Nor did his mother and father _ever_ call him that. Only his _grandmother_ gave him silly nicknames like Richie, Rich, or _Dick_. Cam Gansey had only ever heard his Uncle Ronan call his dad _Dick_ and Cam didn’t think Ronan meant it in a nice way like his grandmother did. Sometimes Ronan gave him nicknames, but they all started with _Cam_ :  campfire, Camaro, Cambodia, camcorder. Uncle Adam would just roll his eyes and flick Ronan in the head when he could tell that Cam was getting annoyed (it was all for show, he liked the attention).

 His name was Cam. Fact.

Cam was small for his age, six and three quarters (if you asked him). He wore glasses with bright green frames. His grandmother didn’t like those very much. She thought he should have something more sensible, like his dad’s wire framed glasses. His dad always said how cool his bright green frames were and that he wished he had a pair just like them. He said he was afraid his students would make fun of him though, since he already wore silly boat shoes all the time. _One point for me, Granny_ , Cam had thought. She was a nice lady, but every time they visited his father’s parents both of _his_ parents seemed agitated after.

They were in the car after their most recent visit, on their way to Henrietta, where Cam’s _other_ grandmother lived. Well, her and about a bajillion aunts that he could never remember all of their names. Except for Calla. He liked her the best. She had a scratchy voice and thought his dad was pretty. It was funny to Cam to watch his dad get all blushy and nervous. His mom liked it, too. She always laughed and leaned into his shoulder to hide her face.

For the moment Cam watched his parents from the backseat of their SUV. It was a nice car, but it wasn’t The Pig. Cam loved that old car of his dad’s. He loved the way it smelled and how it was so loud he couldn’t hear his own thoughts. How it vibrated and it felt like his teeth would rattle out of his head. He loved that his mom always rolled down the windows and turned the radio up when they were in it. She’d smile and wink at him and he would feel warm all over. Sometimes his eyes would catch the scar that ran through her eyebrow and his chest would start to ache because he didn’t like to think of her being hurt. Other times he would catch his dad looking at her with a smile so big that he looked like a cartoon character that had just had an anvil dropped on its head or like he’d just found a lost treasure.

Now, they were holding hands. His dad was steering the car with his left hand and holding his mom’s hand in his right one. It was nice. They fought sometimes, but they always made up. Sometimes his dad would just mutter “Come on, Jane…” even though that wasn’t his mom’s name. She would just sigh loudly and shake her head. But later she always smiled and kissed his cheek and sometimes, most times, Cam would sneak up on them in the kitchen or in the hallway or somewhere they thought they were alone and see them with their arms wrapped around each both smiling like dummies.

They always pretended they never saw him, but he knew they did. They were magic, after all.

Cam didn’t know how he knew his parents were magic, he just always felt it with them.

 Like right now, just sitting in the car. His mom had rolled down her window and her free hand was sitting on the sill. Her fingers danced in the wind and it felt like she directed the wind right into his dark hair. It was always messy, like hers, and much to his father’s dismay. He closed his eyes and smiled as the warm air caressed his face.

“How you doing back there, Cammy-Boy?” His dad’s voice interrupted his moment and Cam looked up to see his dad watching him in the rearview mirror. He tried to be annoyed, but Cam always found it was impossible to be mad at his father. Well, Cam was sure he would _eventually_ be mad at his dad, sometime down the road probably. But, like his mother’s agitation with Gansey, it probably wouldn’t last long.

The sound of his dad’s voice always made Cam smile. Even if he was in trouble, and his dad was scolding him about tracking in mud or talking about the importance of getting good grades in school (he was only in first grade, seriously), or picking up your dirty underwear from the floor, Cam would smile. He couldn’t help it, though. He loved to hear his dad talk, to tell stories about his friends, read books, say his name. Everything about Richard Campbell Gansey III made his son smile. Especially when his dad talked about their adventures BC (Before Cam). He loved the stories about the lost king and meeting his mom and travelling the world with Henry.

So. It made it hard to _not like_ hearing his dad talk. Which made it harder when he got in trouble and he just smiled. His mom just said he was spending too much time with Uncle Ronan.

Cam gave his dad a thumbs up and his best “congressman smile”, as Henry liked to say. Cam didn’t get the joke, though. His dad wasn’t a congressman, he was a professor and, besides, Cam didn’t even know what _Congress_ was. Gansey grinned back at his son and set his gaze back to the highway in front of him. Cam watched him, still. His dad’s thumb tapped out a rhythm on the steering wheel and, with his other hand, he brought Blue’s hand to his cheek, then his lips, then back down to the center console.

“Mama, does Calla know we’re coming?” Cam called over the sound of the wind. He was testing her, of course.

Blue rolled up her window and turned to him, letting go of Gansey’s hand in the process so she could look at him fully in the seat behind Gansey. Her hair was windblown wild and her eyes were sparkling. She reached out a hand and squeezed his foot with a laugh.

“Yeah. She’s always known.” Blue smiled like she was telling him a secret and he grinned back. Not a “congressman smile”, though. A real one.

His dad laughed and shook his head, thinking Blue was crazy or agreeing with her. Then, he caught her hand again. Cam watched as he tugged her closer and pressed a kiss to her palm before settling their hands on the center console once more. Cam looked between them, smiling, and as they passed the sign for Henrietta, he felt warm inside all over again.


	2. One Call Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IDK.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to keep this going. I guess.

“Jane,” Gansey drawled as he stepped out onto the porch of the tiny bungalow he and Blue were currently residing in. He was in nothing but a towel that hung precariously around his hips and, had they not been isolated from everyone else on the coast, Blue would have tried to push him inside to hide him from prying eyes.

As it was, _she_ was only in a soft, thin robe that was a lot less than her normal layers. They’d become too comfortable in the past week or so, that was clear.

“Yes?” Blue asked after she finally managed to pull her eyes away from the rest of him and look at his face.

His brow was furrowed but a small smile tugged at his lips as he stared at the phone in his hand.

“Why do you think Calla has called me thirteen times in the last hour?” He held the phone out to her so she could see the numerous missed calls on the screen

Blue raised her eyebrows and shrugged. “Call her back.”

Gansey recoiled as if Blue had just told him they’d stop making polo shirts or something ludicrous that would offend only him. He was clearly not keen on the idea of speaking to Calla directly.

“ _You_ call her!” He tossed the phone to her like it was on fire and ducked back into the bungalow. Blue sighed and lifted herself off the chaise she’d been lounging on. Their week alone in Venezuela was coming to end and Blue was feeling, well, blue. Gansey had only a few more days before his summer classes started and she only managed to take a week off from work, having chosen to not take summer courses.

Gansey was sitting on the low bed when she came back into the room. She climbed onto it with him, settling herself against the headboard. He sighed, turned, and rested his head in her lap. Blue smiled as her fingers combed through his still damp hair. With the other hand, she held Gansey’s phone to her ear.

“Well, it’s about time,” Calla said as a greeting.

“Sorry, time difference?” Blue tried, but Gansey snorted, and she could practically hear Calla rolling her eyes.

“Nice try, girlie. Where’s Richie Rich? Right there, I assume?”

“We aren’t joined at the hip, you know,” Blue pouted, but Gansey reached up and threaded his fingers through hers as she said it. He held her hand against his sun-kissed cheek and she softened.

“Listen. We’ve got to talk. Your mom’s here, too.”

“Am I not listening?”

“Stop being fresh. We need to know if you’ve…have you been…Ah, gods, Maura. She’s your daughter, you do it.”

While Blue laughed at the sound of the phone switching hands, Gansey sat up and pressed his bare shoulder to hers. He tucked his fingers into the collar of her robe and pulled it slowly down, so he could press his lips to her skin.

“Stoppit,” Blue hissed and pushed his face away, but half-heartedly.

“Blue?”

“Mom?”

“Sweetie, are you sitting down?”

“Yes?”

“Okay,” Maura took a deep breath. Gansey rested his head on Blue’s shoulder, his warm breath caressing her skin. She shivered. “Listen. We were doing a reading and-”

“ _MOM_. We asked you not to-”

Maura interrupted her. “It wasn’t even a reading for you, darling. It was just…”

“What’s going on?” Gansey murmured against Blue’s neck.

“Mom, will you just spit it out?”

There was a rustling again and then Calla’s voice came back, dry and open and honest. Blue dropped the phone after Calla spoke and she and Gansey stared at each other while Calla’s voice drifted up from where the phone had fallen on the bed. He reached out and gripped her hand, his eyes wide. Blue had never understood the phrase “deer in headlights” more.

“Blue, did you hear me?” Calla was loud, of course they’d heard her. “You’re pregnant, Blue.”

xXx

Gansey’s knee bounced up and down nervously as the plane sat on the tarmac. Blue rested her hand on his knee and glanced up at him.

“Are you sweating?”

“I’m nervous!” He whispered loudly.

Blue bit her lip to keep from laughing. Since Calla’s phone call two days again Gansey had been a wreck. He’d hurriedly packed his bag, not even stopping to separate his clean clothes from his dirty ones, hardly slept or ate, and spent a lot of time just staring at the walls.

“Babe, there’s nothing to be nervous about.”

Gansey groaned and tossed his head back against the seat. “But! You’re!”

“Yeah, I am. So what?” She asked softly.

They’d hardly talked about Calla’s revelation of Blue’s pregnancy. Gansey was too busy brooding and worrying, but Blue had no idea what he was worried about. It wasn’t the 1950s. They were young, but they were stable. They had a nice place to live. Blue had a decent job. School was almost over for her and Gansey was finishing his undergrad before he made any more decisions.

“Are you…okay with that?” He asked, but didn’t open his eyes.

“Hey. Look at me,” Blue pleaded quietly.

Gansey did. His hazel eyes full of questions. She was the sensible one and _she_ was okay? Gansey was supposed to be the whimsical one. The one full of dreams and wonder. What was wrong with this picture?

“I love you, you idiot.”

“I love you, too, but…this is just not how I pictured it.”

Blue laughed and took his hand in both of hers. “The first time I kissed you, you died. This isn’t really how I pictured it either.”

He didn’t smile. “We don’t have to…” Gansey’s eyes dropped to their hands. “We’re still young, and…”

“Is that what you’d want?” Blue asked sharply, pulling her hands away and leaning away from him.

“No!” Gansey said quickly. “God, no. I want a life with you, Blue. Forever. You _know_ that. I just know that you’re young and smart and I don’t want anything to hold you back. I want whatever you want.”

Blue was quiet for a long moment, her eyes rested on her hands in her lap. Cautiously, she reached for his hand again. He threaded their fingers together and pulled her closer.

“You are my family, Blue,” he whispered.

“ _We_ are your family,” she corrected him.


	3. Nobody Likes Baby Showers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still in my feels. This story seems like it's backwards, but it's really just moments I wanted to write. It probably won't make sense.

“I cannot actually believe I’m at a baby shower,” Ronan grumbled as he sunk lower into the leather armchair in the Gansey family library. It was a chilly spring day. Too nice to be locked inside with a bunch of Gansey’s mother’s friends who were awkwardly mixing with the ladies of 300 Fox Way. As Blue didn’t have a lot of “girlfriends”, the gang was who made up the young crowd at the party. Ronan sigh, then he glanced over to make sure Opal wasn’t causing too much damage,  and returned his attention to glaring at his friends.

Adam handed him a plate with a large piece of cake on it and perched himself on the side of his chair, nudging him over a little with his hip. Ronan nudged back with a small smile on his face.

“Technically,” Henry spoke through a mouth of cake, “you’re just _hiding out_ from a baby shower.”

“Yeah, _technically_ , you aren’t even here,” Gansey said with a raised eyebrow, then he reached over and took the fork that he and Blue were sharing and scooped up a bite of cake off the plate that was rested on her rounded belly. She was propped up on the loveseat next to him with her feet in his lap. She was wearing a simple yellow dress that Helen had picked out for her. Blue didn’t hate it, but she put a pair of obnoxiously striped leggings under it, just for fun. 

“Are any of us really here, though?” Blue mused as Gansey handed her back the fork. He rolled his eyes and rested his hands on her swollen ankles.

“Stop it, you sound like Parrish,” Ronan said before shoving a too big bite of cake in his mouth.

Adam just shrugged but made no apologies for being more philosophical than the rest of them. “I can’t help it if I read a lot of books.”

“I’m surprised you still have time with all the work my mother makes you do.” Gansey’s voice held a tone of pride and it made Adam smile. He’d gotten an internship with Gansey’s mother at the end of the summer and, while, she did expect a lot from him, Adam was also learning a lot.

And hearing a lot of gossip.

“I don’t mind,” he said with a shrug.

“What’s the latest news on us?” Blue asked with a wide smile, gesturing between herself and Gansey, whom she liked to refer to in front of Gansey’s mother as her “baby daddy”. Gansey covered his face with his hand and sighed, not really interested in hearing his mother’s true feelings about his relationship.

“Oh, you know. The same.” Adam pushed a piece of frosting around on his plate.  “Gansey gave you that big diamond at Christmas and you still haven’t set a date. Her first grandchild will be born a bastard. You won’t find out the gender, you probably won’t give it a family name…” Adam trailed off.

Gansey swallowed hard and his grip on Blue’s ankles tightened. Blue bit the side of her lip and watched him, suddenly feeling bad for bringing up the subject. She knew that it upset him. Not that it mattered what his mother thought of _him_ , but more about what she thought of _Blue_.  

It was quiet with everyone exchanges glances of different concern.

Henry spoke first. “So, you haven’t told her?”

Gansey opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted.

“Told who what?” Helen, Gansey’s sister stood at the door of the library and watched them all with narrowed eyes.

With a sigh, Gansey turned to Blue, who shrugged in response.

“Mother,” he told his sister tightly.

“Told her what?” Helen asked, just as tightly as her brother.

“That Blue and I are already married,” Gansey drawled softly. Goosebumps broke out all over Blue’s skin, even though this wasn’t new information to _her_.

Helen’s mouth fell open at the declaration. She entered the room fully and closed the door behind her, then stepped to them with a curious look on her face. Blue lifted the now empty plate from it’s place on her belly and set it on the coffee table before sitting up and leaning into Gansey. He took her hand, the one with the _very large diamond_ and held it tightly.

“And when did this joyous occasion happen?” Helen asked icily.

Adam looked afraid. Even Ronan sat up straight at her tone.

“Oh, what?” He looked at Blue. “Last May? Right after classes got out, I guess,” Gansey said with a shrug. Helen’s eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hair.

“Last _MAY_?” she screeched, startling Opal who had been silently taking books off the shelf and stacking them into piles taller than she was.

xXx

_Gansey felt the bed shift and then the soft touch of Blue’s fingers brushing his hair away from his face. He groaned and stretched, snaking an arm around her in the process, not quite ready to leave the warmth of the bed._

_“Last day of classes, sleepyhead,” she said as she tucked herself against his side and kissed his bare shoulder._

_He mumbled something and turned, bringing her closer and turning his face to hers. She was blurry without his glasses or contacts, but she was bright. So bright. It made his chest hurt thinking about how bright she was._

_Gansey reached to brush a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled._

_“I made breakfast,” Blue said, her warm breath washing over his face. “And coffee. I’ll be out of class before you, so I’m going to start packing. I know we’re not leaving for a few days, but I want to get stuff ready and-”_

_“Do you want to get married?” He interrupted her, his voice thick with sleep but his question very clear._

_Blue stared at him for a moment before leaning forward and kissing him, very gently. He responded just a millisecond too late, but kissed her back, nonetheless._

_“I love you, Blue,” Gansey whispered when she pulled away. His voice was soft and rich, smooth like warm honey. It warmed her somewhere deep in her soul._

_“I know you do.”_

_“So. You love me too, right?” He closed his eyes and searched for her hand, then brought it to his lips when their fingers were finally intertwined._

_“Of course. Yes.” She grinned. He opened his eyes and smiled sleepily._

_“Cool. Now?”_

_Blue laughed. “Tomorrow?”_

_Gansey scratched his chin, thinking. “We’ve got to get a license. So…soon?”_

_“Soon,” she echoed._

xXx

“Well, yeah.” Gansey glanced at Blue and then at the rest of his friends. “Before we went to Venezuela. It was kind of a honeymoon.”

“What?” Helen sputtered. “Where? How?”

“At The Barns,” Ronan answered, picking his fingernails with Mrs. Gansey’s silver fork.

xXx

_“You’re sure, right?” Adam scratched his chin with a piece of hay and watched Blue intently, then rubbed the piece against her cheek. They we just outside one of the main barns waiting to make their big entrance. Well, they were waiting for Henry to calm down because it seemed he’s just realized they were actually serious. As if the online course they made him take to become ordained to marry them wasn’t real enough._

_Blue swatted him away and tried to smooth down her hair. She smiled up at him and he set a hand on her shoulder._

_“Yeah, of course.” She reached up and patted his hand._

_“I mean, it’s not too late to leave. I have the keys to Ronan’s car right here and-”_

_“Parrish!” Gansey called from around the corner. “I can hear you!”_

_“I’m just being cautious, Dick! I want to make sure our little Blue here is ready.”_

_Blue laughed and threw her arms around Adam in tight hug._

_“I’m ready. I’ve been waiting for this my whole life, I think.”_

_“Your whole life, huh?” Adam raised an eyebrow. Blue rolled her eyes, ready to defend her gushy, non-sensible statement, but Ronan answered for her._

_“It’s like their destiny or some shit,” Ronan’s voice came from the direction of where Gansey’s had been. He rounded the corner, smiling though his voice had sounded annoyed. “Let’s get this over with,” he said with a nod of his head in the direction of the door. “I’ve been waiting to see this for a long time, too.”_

_“Yeah?” Blue asked, smirking._

_“Yeah, I want to see Dick cry.”_

xXx

“I officiated,” Henry said proudly.

“We were the witnesses,” Adam gestured to himself and Ronan. “Signed the papers and everything.”

“So, this whole thing with the ring and the proposal…”

Blue snorted and Gansey slipped an arm over her shoulder, pulling her closer, feeling protective. Blue was stiff, though. Unmovable almost. “You think I’d accept a proposal just because I’m pregnant? Please.”

“She’d never marry me if I asked just because of that,” Gansey said with a small shrug. He knew it was true, too. It didn’t matter how much they loved each other. If Blue thought he only wanted to marry her because he’d knocked her up, she’d be a force to be reckoned with.

“You’re damn right, Dick.”

Gansey grinned and kissed her nose, then turned back to his still gaping sister.

“You’ve been married this whole time,” she stated. “Before the baby.”

“Yep. Gross, right?” Ronan said and Blue flipped him off.

“Why?” Helen glanced around the room again.

“Love, sister.” Henry answered with a wide grin in Blue’s and Gansey’s direction. They both blushed, looked at each other, and then back at Helen.

“Are you ever going to tell her?”

Gansey shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Wow, and all this time I thought you were the good child,” Helen mused.

That time Ronan snorted.

“How am I the bad child because I got married _before_ my wife got pregnant?” Gansey frowned.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure I’ll find a way to turn it around to that,” she said as she flounced back to the door, ignoring Gansey’s glare. “Blue, Mother wants to measure your belly with toilet paper or something.”

Blue grimaced but Ronan stood up quickly. Too fast. Too happy.

 

“Finally. The embarrassing stuff is going to happen.” He clapped his hands excitedly and grinned, leaving the others rolling their eyes after him.

“Come on, baby daddy.” Blue held her hand out to Gansey, who just smiled and took it.

“One day we’ll have to tell her,” he said once everyone else had filed out of the room.

“I know.” She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek before wrapping her arms around his neck. “I know it bothers you.”

He huffed and pulled away. “It’s not _me-“_

“I _know_ , Gansey. And I love you for it.”

Gansey rested a hand over her belly, and she covered it with her own. The baby moved, just a little twitch, but they both grinned.

“She likes when we’re all together.”

“ _He_ ,” Gansey corrected. “What? You’re not psychic.”

Blue started to retort something smart, but she didn’t really have anything to say.

“You think it’s a boy?” She asked as she took his hand and they headed out into the hallway.

“I’ll bet you naming rights, it is,” Gansey said with a wink.

Blue stopped walking, tugging him back to her. “No way. I want…I want _him_ to have your name. If it’s a boy.”

Gansey’s eyebrows raised. “Really?”

“Yeah, really.” Blue bit her lip. “I like your name.” She shrugged.

“Well, we’ll have to think of some better nicknames than the ones I had, for sure,” he told her before he started walking toward the party again.

“Oh, obviously,” Blue giggled.

“I think we’ll figure something out, though.”

“What if it’s a girl?” She stopped again, and Gansey looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Persephone,” they both said at the same time, then they smiled stupidly and kissed.

Blue squeezed his fingers and leaned into his side, then laughed.

“Your mom would hate that.”

“Yours wouldn’t.”

“No, she wouldn’t,” Blue agreed. “I can see it now, though. And feel it,” she said softly with her hand resting on her belly.

“What?” He asked just as they were about to cross the threshold back into baby shower territory. It was a place neither one of them really wanted to go.  

“Your son,” Blue replied with a smile.


	4. Can't Take Them Anywhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welp.

Blue narrowed her eyes and scrutinized every move Gansey made from where she stood. He was just barely across the room from her, but she hoped he could feel her gaze. He was surrounded by Yale boys who were not nearly as good looking or interesting as him, in Blue’s opinion. (She hadn’t _actually_ met any of them, though.) It wasn’t just the guys that bothered her. It was the girls, too. The tall, slim blondes with their perfect teeth and breasts and…everything. And they were practically fawning over Gansey in his stupid khakis and stupid tight-fitting button up and stupid, _stupid_ boat shoes. Ugh, and his smile. What a _dick_.

“This is not a good look for you, sunshine,” Ronan whispered too close in Blue’s ear and she spun around quickly, her narrowed eyes now on him. He was dressed nicer than she’d seen him in a while, also in dress pants and a shirt that had buttons…and sleeves. He looked good. Still, she wasn’t amused at his comment.

She frowned and sniffed, then tried to tuck her hair behind her ears. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Ronan laughed quietly, though not unkindly, and looked back to where she’d been staring. Gansey was still there being the center of attention, possibly regaling the crowd with stories of his many trips, of sleeping in tents and fields and “roughing it” with his friends. Weirdly, sometimes Blue forgot that this is where he came from. That this was the life he’d lived for so long before her. Of parties and Ivy Leagues and politics.

They didn’t have time for all of that nowadays and it was hard to remember sometimes, that there was a Gansey before he was _her_ Gansey. There were so many moments that made him _hers._ Like Venezuelan beaches, deserted forests and, most recently, him asleep on the couch at 3AM with his glasses askew and Richard Campbell Gansey IV asleep on his chest.

“The guy is wearing a Baby Bjorn and a spit up rag on his shoulder. I mean, he’s got a pacifier in hist shirt pocket, for God’s sake. Trust me, no one is pining for him except _you_ ,” Ronan chuckled.

Blue growled quietly, jokingly, but kind-of-hopefully thought Ronan might be right. Gansey was still wearing the carrier they’d been using to hold the baby during Adam’s graduation ceremony. They were currently waiting for Adam to come find them and the baby in questions was asleep in Ronan’s arms because, after fussing for the first few minutes of the graduation while he was confined in the carrier against Gansey’s body, Ronan had reached for him.

Apparently Ronan Lynch was the baby whisperer.

He adjusted Richard Campbell Gansey IV so that the baby rested in the crook of one arm. He was a chubby thing, with round rosy cheeks and a mop of thick dark hair. He stretched a little as Ronan shifted him and Blue smiled at her son. Ronan put his other arm about Blue’s shoulders and pulled her against him. She felt a little more at ease being tucked into his side.

Maybe Ronan Lynch was the Blue whisperer, too.

“Okay, you’re probably right.”

“Wow, you didn’t even argue with me.” Ronan pulled away and looked at her incredulously. “I don’t like it.”

 _That_ made Blue laugh. And roll her eyes a little. “Give me my baby so I can go burst their bubbles.”

“The boys or the girls?” Ronan grinned and handed over the baby, who was slowly waking with little yawns and stretches.

“Hm,” Blue said thoughtfully with a glance toward the crowd around Gansey. “Probably both.”

Ronan followed her gaze, sharp eyes narrowed at the group of people around his friend. “Yeah. Probably.”

Blue adjusted her son in her arms and Ronan reached over to gently brush his hand over the baby’s hair. He squirmed and made a little sound of protest as Blue situated him.

“Oh, don’t you Richard Gansey IV at me,” Blue cooed and Ronan laughed.  

“Like father like son.” Ronan shrugged.

“Oh, please no,” Blue whispered and pressed a kiss to the baby’s head. “If I’m not back in five minutes…”

“I’ll bring the car around for the body…or bodies. Got it.”

She beamed at him from over her shoulder as she took a deep breath and made her way through the crowd. She held the baby close, her hand rubbing little circles on his back to keep him calm. As she neared the group a couple of the girls saw her and turned toward each other to exchange a look and a whisper. Blue took another deep breath and held her head high. It wasn’t a competition. She didn’t care what they thought of her. Besides, if it _had_ been a competition…she’d definitely won.

It was as if Gansey could sense her as she drew closer to him, or if he’d heard what the girls had said. He turned and smiled a breathtaking smile and held out his hand. It was like he was seeing her for the first time in five years instead of five minutes. She had _so won_.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said as she stepped to his side. He put his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head, before he introduced her to everyone. After niceties were exchanged he took the baby from her arms, kissed his chubby cheek, and held him with the baby’s back against his chest, like he was sitting on Gansey’s forearm. Blue half expected him to hold their son up like Rafiki did to Simba in _The Lion King_ , but that was something they liked to do at home. She wouldn’t put it past Gansey, though. He was a _really_ proud father.

“And _this_ is Richard Campbell Gansey IV,” Gansey said proudly. Blue slipped her arm around Gansey’s waist and rested her head on his arm, smiling.

“A little Dick, how about that.” One of the Yale boys grinned. Blue cringed. She did not want her son to be called _Dick_. Nor did she like it when anyone called Gansey that. She’d taken, just recently, to calling him Richard. There was something so intimate about it to her, calling him something  that it seemed like so many people had forgotten was actually his name.

The baby, on the other hand, was not Dick or Richard. He was Cam. It had taken them a few weeks to figure it out. They called him so many things in the meantime and had only just settled into this name for him. It fit, though. Just Cam.

Gansey laughed and bounced Cam a little before lifting him and settling him back into the carrier. Blue helped out, adjusting his little legs through the holes and snagging the pacifier from Gansey’s pocket, just in case.

“Oh, no. Anything but that,” Gansey replied good-naturedly.  

“We call him Cam,” Blue explained, as she slipped her hand into Gansey’s now that it was free. His other hand rested on the back of the carrier. Like, even though Cam was secure, he still wanted to be sure.

“Unless he’s being ornery. Then it’s the full name,” Gansey explained.

Blue glanced around at the group and realized that their eyes were starting to dart away from Gansey, searching each other’s faces and then the crowd around them. Like they were looking for an escape. Blue decided that they would leave first, though.

“Oh, I think I saw Adam!” Blue cried suddenly and gripped her husband’s hand. “We should be going. Nice to meet y’all!”

She pulled Gansey away, ready to make there way through the crowd to their “friends”, but he tugged her hand and stopped her. When she turned to face him, he was smiling.

Gansey shrugged. “They like the stories. The adventure.”  

Blue harrumphed.

“It’s funny,” he said as he pulled her closer and rested his hands on her waist, Cam between them, almost at eye level for Blue.

“What’s that?” She asked as she was pulled into him, like a magnet with no resistance.

“They didn’t even want to hear about the best adventure.” Gansey grinned and leaned down to kiss her. He touched her chin softly when he pulled away.

A small smile spread across Blue’s lips as he spoke.

“All they care about is my “lost king” and my mother’s position. They don’t get that none of that matters.” Gansey sighed and so did Blue, but hers was a happy sigh. She couldn’t help it. She loved when Gansey got all romantic.

“Not everyone is as evolved as you, Richard,” she said as she kissed the back of Cam’s head and glanced up at him.

“ _Richard_? Careful, Parrish, they’re going to start doing married people stuff soon,” Ronan’s voice came from behind Blue. She turned and stuck her tongue out at him.

“Like grocery shopping?” Adam asked with wide eyes.

Gansey shook his head. “Nah, complaining about bills.”

“You’re loaded, Dick,” Ronan pointed out.

“Too true,” Gansey agreed with his arm around Blue’s shoulders.

“You two are more married than we are,” Blue said as she gestured between him and Adam. That time Ronan stuck out his tongue, so Blue flipped him the bird.

“Seriously Mrs. Gansey,” he said in mock mortification, “try to be more sophisticated. We’re at _Yale_.”

Next to Ronan, Adam palmed his face and Gansey sighed and shook his head. He held out his fist to Adam and they pressed their knuckles together, whether in congratulations or in solidarity that their significant others were crazy, no one knew.

“Ugh, don’t call me _Mrs. Gansey_. That’s Gansey’s mom.” Blue shuddered as she hugged Adam and punched Ronan in the shoulder.

“Cam, you’re the most mature person in this group right now,” Gansey whispered to the baby.

“Hey, don’t lump me in with this crowd.” He jabbed his thumb toward Ronan and Blue who were standing side-by-side, with Ronan’s arm resting on top of Blue’s head while she elbowed him in the side. “I did just graduate from Yale, you know.”

Gansey grinned. “Yeah, you did. Now, grab your yahoos so we can go celebrate.”

“Come on, yahoos,” Adam called as he and Gansey started to walk away, Adam reaching out to touch Cam’s hand and making a face at him.

Ronan slipped his arm around Blue’s shoulders, nicely, like he’d done before to comfort her and they followed Adam and Gansey through the crowd of people. She looked up at him and smiled, giddy and stupid. To her surprise he was smiling back.

“Yeah, we’re idiots.”

“At least we’re happy idiots.” Blue shrugged and patted Ronan’s hand.

“Lucky ones, too.”

“Wow, you’re being really romantic. It’s kind of gross.”

Ronan squeezed her shoulder. “Shut up, you asshole.”

“Much better.”


	5. I Think We're Alone Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I mean. I don't have a plan for this story. There's not really a plot. It's just my feelings and things I want to see. I'm sorry?

Blue stared out the window, seeing nothing but the lights of other cars passing across the highway. Not that there were that many, but she couldn’t sleep. Cam was snuggled safely in his car seat next to her, Ronan asleep on the other side. His head rested against the window and his arms were crossed over his chest and his handsome face was calm.

She sighed and shifted, gazing at Cam for a long moment before looking up and meeting Gansey’s eyes in the rearview mirror. He and Adam were talking quietly in the front seat as Gansey drove them to The Barns. It was the only place they wanted to be to celebrate Adam.

Gansey’s eyes crinkled and Blue noticed him leaning closer to the door. She almost laughed as his left hand came between the door and his seat: palm up, fingers reaching for hers. Smiling, she touched her fingers to his, then leaned forward and rested her chin on the side of his seat, bringing her arm up around the side where his had been and running her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck.

“What are you talking about?” Blue asked softly, her face pointed toward Gansey. She watched goosebumps raise on the back of his neck and felt satisfied that she could do that, still. Not that it was because they’d lost anything, just that things had been different since Cam was born. She was different.

Adam cleared his throat and Blue realized she’d been staring. It wasn’t like it was the first time Adam had caught her staring at Gansey, though. He smiled at her. “Politics.”

“Ew.” Blue wrinkled her nose and Gansey laughed.

“It’s the life, darling,” he said, reaching up pulling her hand to his lips. Her seatbelt tightened as he tugged her forward and kissed her fingers. Heat crept up her cheeks.

“Pass on that bullshit,” Ronan muttered from the backseat.

Blue giggled nervously and pulled herself away, settling back against her seat and trying to calm her beating heart. She didn’t know why she was so flustered suddenly. Gansey did little things like take her hand or kiss her fingers, or smile his dumb Gansey smiled at her all the time.

“We’re just trophy wives, Lynch. That’s all they think of us,” Blue sighed, trying to right herself.

Adam snorted and turned around in his seat so he could see them both. He was grinning widely in Ronan’s direction.

“I thought I was the trophy wife?”

“You are, don’t worry,” Ronan mumbled with his eyes still closed and a dismissive wave in Adam’s direction.  

Adam reached back and patted Ronan’s knee gently while smirking at Blue, who shook her head at him, but smiled. Blue was kidding about being a trophy wife, and they all knew it. She had worked part-time up until the day Cam was born, having only stopped taking classes the semester before. That was only so she wouldn’t end up going into labor in one of them or have to catch up on work for being out due to the miracle of life. She had decided to take a couple of classes over the summer to help her catch up while Gansey would stay home with the baby until they were ready to think about nannies or daycare.

She caught his eye in the rearview mirror again as the conversations died down and the scenery finally started to look familiar. It was late, and they were all tired from a long day, but they were also all eager to be back at _their_ place.

Gansey raised and eyebrow at her in the mirror and Blue stared back, feeling electric. Her fingers clutched the hem of her dress tightly.

“Stop, you’re making me uncomfortable,” Ronan groaned as he rubbed his face with his hand. “And you’re going to make Dick miss the exit if you keep looking at him like that.”

“I’m perfectly under control,” Gansey replied, with just a hint of a waver in his voice.

Blue felt pretty darn proud at that waver.

“Yeah, well. Let me know if you want Parrish and me to sleep outside or something. Yuck.” He shuddered and Blue moved to lean over Cam so she could smack him. Ronan grinned and smushed himself against the door.

“Behave, Lynch,” she threatened.

“You behave, you’re a mother!”

Blue leveled him with a gaze that clearly said “Fuck off, Lynch”, as he knew full well she took her motherly and her female responsibilities very seriously.

“I’d reckon you’d better take that back, Ro,” Adam chuckled quietly from the front.

“No, please don’t,” Blue said sweetly, though it was laced with venom.

Ronan looked nervous for a split second, before breaking out into a wide grin.

“I’m just fucking with ya.” He reached out and chuffed the top of her hair. “Not like Dick will be later, but-”

“ _Ronan_.”

Gansey’s voice was a quiet warning and Ronan pressed his lips together to hide his smile. Blue still glared at him.

“You married people are no fun,” he grumbled when she didn’t relent.

Blue looked away, meeting Gansey’s eyes one more time. That time _she_ raised an eyebrow and the crinkle of his eyes as he smiled made her bite her lip.

“Y’all should really get a room, though,” Adam said quietly.

Gansey laughed and slipped his hand between the door and the seat again. Not as a secret, but as a promise.

“Any time you gentlemen want to come to Charlottesville and babysit your very good looking and agreeable godson…” Gansey sighed as Blue squeezed his fingers.

“Who also doesn’t sleep through the night and requires food every couple of hours…” Blue said with wistful smile.

“Sounds like Ronan,” Adam laughed.

“Then you’ll get along just fine.”

Gansey did not miss the exit and soon enough they were pulling into the long drive of The Barns, each of them exhaling as they did.

Matthew, who was supposed to be watching Opal, was asleep on the couch. Opal greeted them on the porch, turning circles around the boys and stopping in front of Gansey, who held Cam in his arms. He bent down so the girl could press a soft kiss to the baby’s head.

Inside, Blue and Gansey took Cam upstairs and settled him into an old-fashioned basinet that Ronan had found for them when they visited. Gansey plugged in the monitor they traveled with and took Blue’s hand, leading her away from the baby and back downstairs.

Ronan and Adam had gathered drinks and snacks after Ronan ushered Matthew and Opal to bed. Then it was just the four of them.

“Feels weird to be here without any demons or kings to find,” Blue said as she settled herself against Gansey’s side. He wrapped his arm around her waist and held her close, her back against his chest. She could feel his heart pounding.

“You say that every time we do this,” Ronan chuckled.

“It is a little like déjà vu,” Adam added.

Gansey made a noise deep in his throat. “Don’t.”

Blue reached up, behind her, and rested her hand on the side of his neck trying to comfort him. Knowing that the déjà vu, the feeling of doing something already, never really left him.

“Okay.” Ronan set his drink down on the table and stood up. He grabbed a quilt from what seemed to be a large stack of quilts in the corner and tossed it to Blue. It landed on her lap and she glared at him.

“What’s this for?” She frowned. It wasn’t cold inside or outside at the moment.

“Your pheromones are making me sick. I really need the two of you to get out of here.” He crossed his arms and glared at her and Gansey. Gansey shifted underneath her.

“It’s nothing-”

“Look. You just had a kid. We get it.”

Gansey gave him _a look._

“Okay, we don’t get it. But the big barn has a loft. Leave us the monitor and for the love of _God_ , don’t come back until you’ve worked yourselves out.”

Blue blushed as she looked down at the quilt, but Gansey was moving behind her, standing up and reaching out his hand.

“You heard the man, Mrs. Gansey,” he said with a grin.

“Ew.” Blue wrinkled her nose but took his hand and let him pull her up. She held the quilt in her arms and glanced at Ronan. “He’ll be up soon.”

“Yep.” Ronan nodded.

“You know what to do?”

“We can probably figure it out,” Adam said with a shrug.

“Blue,” Gansey said softly. “I think they’ll be fine.

“But…” She turned to him. Her gaze was worried and her bottom lip was between her teeth.

He put his hands on his shoulders and then gently kissed her forehead.

“If you don’t want to go spend quality time with me, your loving husband, I understand. But please also know, that I will whine about this for at least three months and really, no one wants that.”

Blue sighed.

“Let’s go.”

They left with a bottle of wine, two plastic cups, and the quilt. Their fingers were linked together as they walked. Everything felt quiet.

Gansey spread the blanket out once they reached the loft and Blue poured the wine. She handed him one, and he took it with one hand and pulled her to him with the other.

“It’s quiet,” he said with his lips to her ear.

Blue laughed a breathy laugh and took a sip of her drink before tilting her face to his. He always felt quiet with her. He slept even when she didn’t. Gansey took the flimsy cup from her hand and set it down with his, then he laced their hands together and wrapped his arm around her waist again. He swayed them a few times before he dipped Blue back and lifted her up, grinning.

“We have all night. What do you want to do first?” Gansey asked, his palm spread wide over her spine.

She shivered as she looked at him. His youthful face, his hair mussed after a long day, his wide honest eyes.

And then she yawned. Big. Loud.

Gansey laughed, kissed her nose, and nodded.

“Yeah, I agree,” he said with smile. Then he pulled her down to the quilt with him and tucked her in his arms.

“Ronan is going to be so disappointed in us,” Blue mumbled as she pressed her hand to Gansey’s chest. She felt his body rumble with laughter.

“I’ll make something up.”

“Love you,” she whispered.

“I know you do,” Gansey whispered back.

“Ass.”

“Yeah, I know you love that too.”

 

 


	6. Merry Christmas, Everyone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it isn't Christmas.

It was snowing, which wasn’t unusual for December in Virginia. It was Christmas Eve, however, and the snow felt lucky. The tree was lit, the fire was warm, and the friends were gathered…in matching flannel pajamas.

“Hey! Watch it, you little demons!” Ronan yelled as Cam and Opal ran around in circles and came precariously close to the coffee table in the middle of the living room. The bottle he had been drinking from and just sat down swayed a bit before settling.

 As he watched the bottle still, the two little ones assaulted him, knocking him back onto the floor and the mountain of cushions they’d all stacked around the fire. The only light in the room came from the fire and the Christmas tree, which was decorated with a multitude of different ornaments. There were handmade ones from their old childhoods, as well as from Cam’s. Ornaments from around the world that Gansey and Blue and Henry had collected over time. Gifts from Gansey’s parents that looked too fancy on the messy tree, but no one cared.

“Well, you kind of asked for that one,” Adam chuckled as he watched Ronan struggle beneath the two children.

“And only _one_ of them is a demon,” Gansey tipped his bottle in Ronan’s direction from where he sat across the room. Blue lay with her head in his lap and his fingers combed through her hair gently.

“Yeah, no one really knows what Opal is,” Blue teased. Gansey rolled his eyes at the mere thought of a _Gansey_ being a demon. Cam was a good boy. Mostly.

“He’s not a demon, he’s just precocious.” Gansey reached over and tugged on Cam’s foot, pulling him back a little, if not to just simply stop Ronan’s grumbling. He flopped onto his back, grinning at his father, his glasses askew.

Ronan, on the other hand, sat up with a loud groan mumbling something about being “too old”. Opal scrambled to his side, still grinning devilishly. Cam sat up and settled in Ronan’s lap, looking smug.

“Here, play with this.” Ronan shifted and pulled out a small globe from his pocket. Cam took it gingerly and then gasped a little when it opened. “You’re the ORBMASTER now.”

A little light floated out, brightening the space in front of them and illuminating their features. Cam, wide eyed and innocent, the light reflecting off his glasses and Ronan, well, Ronan-like. The light moved: it twirled around Cam’s head, bounced from his shoulder to his knee and back, then landed on his nose. He laughed and swatted at it and Ronan smiled.

“Thanks Uncle Ronan,” he said quietly as he leaned back against Ronan’s chest and watched the light bounce around the room, awestruck.

“Softie,” Adam muttered beside him. Opal leaned in close to him and he ran his hand over the top of her head.

“Shut up.” Ronan shrugged but his smile didn’t waver. He met Gansey’s eyes across the space and felt something pass between them. As tough as Ronan projected himself to be, he always had a soft spot when it came to Gansey IV. Ronan looked away first; Gansey smiled.

Blue sighed and turned on her back, tilting her head up a little. Gansey bent down to kiss her.

“Gross,” Ronan and Cam said at the same time, making themselves laugh.

“Just making sure the curse isn’t back,” Gansey said with a shrug and his smile turned to a full-blown grin. Blue sat up, shoved him a little, then kissed his cheek and stood.

“Adam, want to help me grab some snacks?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Nope. Come on, Congressman Parrish.” She walked out of the room and beckoned for him to join her.

Adam sighed and stood, Opal following behind them. “Not yet. Not anytime soon.”

“Does Uncle Adam want to be a congressman? He’s going to need to smile more,” Cam mused quietly.

Gansey nearly spit out his beer. He wiped his chin and gazed proudly at his son. Ronan shook his head, trying not to laugh at his significant other’s solemnness.

“He likes to be serious. Not like us,” Ronan said as he dug his fingers into Cam’s sides, making him squeal with laughter.

“I give! I give!” Cam laughed as Ronan stopped and he collapsed in Ronan’s lap. “Uncle Ronan, did you ask Santa for any gifts?”

“No.” Ronan cast a glance at Gansey. “Did you?”

“Some new books,” Cam said, watching the light bounce around the room once more. Gansey watched his son, his chest feeling tight with emotion. Sometimes he couldn’t help be feel in awe of that little life. Of the chance he and Blue got with their son, to raise him and love him.

“Books? Nerd.”

“Hey!” Cam was affronted for a moment, then he shrugged and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “I want to be smart like my dad. And like Uncle Adam. But I don’t want to work for my granny.”

Blue and Adam returned to the living room with plates of snacks before Ronan or Gansey could respond. Neither one of the really had anything nice to say about it, so it was good timing on the others’ part. Cam shuffled off Ronan’s lap and grabbed a cookie, then fell onto his back in front of the fire, too close for his mother’s liking.

“Careful, Cammy,” Blue warned, taking her spot beside Gansey with a glass of wine in her hand. He slid his arm around her waist and pressed his nose to her shoulder. 

“So warm,” Cam said through a mouth full of cookie.

“Manners.” Gansey’s voice was muffled against Blue’s shirt.

“You first.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Gansey sighed.

They were quiet as everyone settled back into their spots, taking snacks, sips, and gazing around the room. Opal poked at some of the gifts under the tree as Cam swiped another cookie, this time sitting up in front of the fire. It cast a glow around him, but his face was shadowed. The little light came back, floating just in front of his face. Cam reached out with one finger and smiled. It was wistful, hopeful. The look on her son’s face raised goosebumps on Blue’s arms. It was a look she’d seen before. A look she’d grown up seeing.

“Cold?” Gansey asked when she shivered against him. He rubbed his hands over her arms.

“No…” Blue murmured. Her eyes were on Cam and he followed her gaze.

“Uncle Ronan?” Cam’s voice was too loud in the quiet space. He reached out and grabbed the light, holding it tight in his fist, his eyes wide behind his bright green glasses. “You’ll have to make another one of these soon, okay?”

Ronan startled at the direction and the command in his voice. It reminded him so much of Gansey in the cave of bones, in Cabeswater, dying…He cleared his throat.

“Sure, kid. What for?”

“For Persephone.”

They all froze mid-drink, mid-bite, mid-thought at the mention of _Persephone_. It had been so long.

Gansey cleared his throat and his arms fell away from Blue. He got up and moved until he was kneeling next to his son, and placed a gentle hand on Cam’s shoulder.

“Persephone?” Gansey asked quietly. “Cammy, you know-”

“Not _that_ Persephone. The new one.” Cam released the light, his eyes squinted against the brightness in front of him, before he moved his gaze to his father’s face. They locked eyes and neither one of them moved, something silently passing between them. Finally, Adam spoke.

“The new one?” Adam asked.

“Yeah,” Cam answered as his face broke into a grin and the turned to face the others. “My baby sister.”

All eyes turned to Blue. She glanced at her wine glass, then down at her stomach, then at her husband. She handed Gansey her wine glass and sighed.

“I guess I won’t be needing that.”

Gansey sat back, crossed his legs, and drank from the glass. Cam put his head in his father’s lap and looked up at him.

“Can you feel it too, Daddy?” He asked quietly.

Gansey looked down and rested a hand on top of Cam’s head. He looked over at Blue and smiled. “Yeah, I feel it, too.”

Blue returned his smile, but also rolled her eyes and huffed a little.

“This news upsets you?” Ronan asked with a big, stupid grin. In the firelight he looked pure evil.

“What upsets me is that my whole damn family is psychic and I’m pretty sure I’ll never know anything first!”

“Sorry, Mama,” Cam whispered. Blue softened and held out her arms. He went into them willingly and let himself be folded up in her embrace.

“You are so special,” she told him as she kissed his forehead and held him close.

“Daddy isn’t psychic,” he pointed out.

“You’re right,” Blue agreed. “But he’s still special.”

Gansey winked at his son and Ronan stood up, clapping his hands. “This calls for moonshine. I’ve got some under the sink. Except you, you’re pregnant.” He pointed at Blue and laughed at her expression as he jogged out of the room.

“What about me?” Cam called after him.

“NO!” Everyone else yelled in response before Ronan had even entered the room.

When he returned, he had the decency to look insulted before handing Adam a mason jar of amber liquid. “I’m not a monster, okay? I know it’s at least another five years until he can drink.”

“He’s seven,” Adam said, choking slightly on his sip and passing the jar to Gansey.

“And?” Ronan teased.

Blue laughed and pressed her cheek to Cam’s hair. “Get your own baby to corrupt.”

“One day.” Ronan grinned at Blue, then shifted his gaze to Adam, whose smile was soft.

They were quiet again, the moment’s possibilities stretching on. Then, somewhere in the house, a clocked chimed.

“Merry Christmas,” Gansey lifted the jar in a salute before passing it back to Ronan.

“Merry Christmas,” they all responded, except Cam, who was fast asleep.

“And cheers to a new Gansey.”

Blue sighed. “Wish I could drink to that.”


	7. Roadside Assistance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry?
> 
> EDIT - I edited this because I made a really great joke and my format got all messed up.

“Oh my _God,_ ” Blue moaned. “This cannot be happening!”

Gansey’s hands tightened on the steering wheel and he clenched his jaw, the muscles in his face twitching with it. He had seen many impossible things happen, sometimes they even happened in the same day or at the same time. Now, he could not believe what he was seeing. A traffic jam. Right outside Henrietta. They were supposed to be visiting Blue’s mother but Persephone (the new one) decided she had better plans.

She was ready to make her appearance.

“I’m going as fast as I can, sweetheart. It’s this dreadful traffic,” Gansey said through his teeth.

“Oh, do _not_ Gansey the third at me right now, _Richard_. _Dreadful_.”

He shuddered visibly at her intonation of _Richard_ as he felt that Richard was a safe place and she had tainted it with her very angry words. Gansey opened his mouth to say something else but thought better of it. “Uh, guys? You’re scaring the kid,” Ronan spoke up from the backseat. He was sitting in the seat behind Gansey, having given up his front seat to Adam years ago. Cam was in the middle of he and Blue. Adam turned around from the front, his eyes on Cam, who didn’t seem fazed at all.

“I’m okay!” Cam piped up, looking at his mother and then at his father. He gave them both a reassuring smile and added a thumbs up for good measure.

“Yeah, I meant me.”

“ _Ronan_.” Ronan couldn’t tell where his name came from, but the intention was clear. He shut up. Kind of.  

“Okay, shit. Sorry. What’s the hold up, Dick?”

Gansey sighed and threw his hands up. “It looks like an accident. I can’t tell. I’m sorry, Blue.”

He looked back at her, worry etched on his face. She knew it was serious because he’d called her Blue and she almost felt bad for him because she really hated when Gansey was sad. Then she remembered that she was in labor. With _his_ baby.

And he was failing to get her to a hospital in a timely manner. Still, when he reached his hand back, she took it, and squeezed it as hard as she could as another contraction came.

“Oh, that’s not good.” Ronan looked pale and Cam inched closer to his mother.

“Mama?”

“I’m fine, Cammy. I promise,” she said through her heavy breaths. Blue let go of Gansey’s hand and gently took Cam’s. She kissed his little fingers. She caught Gansey’s eye again before he faced forward, squared his shoulders, and jerked the SUV off to the side of the road. Traffic wasn’t moving so there was no reason to be on the road.  

“Cam, hop up front. Don’t touch anything. Adam, call nine-one-one. Ronan, help me,” he directed everyone quickly.

Gansey threw his car door open and ran to the back of the SUV, opening the back door and surveying the random things that littered it. He pushed most of the stuff out of the way and he and Ronan lowered the very last row of seats. Blue watched warily.

“Please tell you aren’t thinking what I think you’re thinking, Gansey.”

“Get that blanket out,” he told Ronan before he went around to the passenger side. Gansey opened the door and Blue glared at him. “Can you walk?”

“You can’t carry me,” she snapped.

“I’d be offended, but you’re probably right. I do love you, though. You’re beautiful and magnificent and forgiving.” He took her hand and helped her down, then around to the back of the car where he and Ronan helped her up. Ronan continued to look pale.

“I really don’t want to have this baby in the back of the Suburban, Gansey,” Blue whined as she fell back onto her elbows and tried to scoot herself into a more comfortable position.

“EMT are about thirty minutes out. Think you can hold out that long?” Adam appeared at Gansey’s side and his question was answered with a scowl. He took a small step back and raised his hands in surrender.

“We should be prepared for whatever happens,” Gansey explained, his eyes trained on Blue. She doubled over on herself in pain.

“Um…I’m gonna go check on Cam,” Ronan mumbled before practically running to the front of the car. They heard the door open and close and felt the car shift as Ronan took his spot in the front seat.

The other three looked at each other and Blue burst out laughing, though it was through her gasps of pain. Persephone was proving to be a very impatient baby.

“Jesus, Lynch!” She called. “A little lady business and you get all freaked out? I’ve seen you fight dragons!”

Adam chuckled, but Gansey had suddenly placed his hands on the bumper and leaned forward with his head down. Adam put his hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Oh, this isn’t good. Head between your legs, Dick.”

“I’m fine,” Gansey panted. “It’s the adrenaline. I’m fine.”

“Glad you’re fine, babe!” Blue called to him. “I’ll just be up here. In labor. Having your baby.”

“ _I’m_ going to check on Cam.” He stood up abruptly and walked around to the driver’s side. Cam rolled down the window. Gansey leaned in, feeling light-headed.

“Are you scared?” Cam whispered. Gansey regarded his young son, feeling it best to be honest as it was the only manly thing he could do at this point, and nodded. “Mama! What’s it called when Daddy pretends to be brave?”

“PERFORMATIVE MASCULINITY!” Blue yelled back.

With a groan, Gansey rested his head on the door for a moment. He felt Cam’s little hand patting his shoulder and he pushed himself up. Before he left the window, Gansey reached in and put his hands on either side of his son’s face. He pulled him close and kissed the top of his head.

“Help Uncle Ronan with his performative masculinity.”

“Okay!”

Gansey jogged back to Blue and Adam, where Adam now had a cell phone on speaker phone and he and Blue were having what seemed like a very intense yet silent conversation. Her dress was bunched up around her hips. The voice on the other end of the phone was speaking and Gansey could make out snippets of terms he’d _definitely_ heard at birthing classes.

“Adam. No.”

“Blue…”

“Just because you graduated from Yale does not mean you can deliver my baby. I don’t think you studied gynecology there!”

“He’s never studied it anywhere!” Ronan yelled.

“Now’s not the time, Ronan!” Adam called back.

Blue glanced at Gansey, half amused. The other half was worry. He could see it etched on her face, in the way her hands trembled, and how her eyes pleaded silently with him. Blue may have grown up in a psychic house and she may have been a fan of women’s rights and saving the environment, but she was also a fan of modern medicine and wanted what was going to be the best for their baby. Gansey took a moment to swallow his pride and fear and, without a second thought, he climbed into the back of the SUV. He dug around in the pile of stuff that he and Ronan had shoved out of the way and handed Adam the first aid kit that had been pushed into the corner.

“Gansey, a band-aid isn’t going to help in this situation,” Blue fought to get the words out.

“Don’t be fresh,” he responded. “Sit up.”

She did, and he positioned himself behind her and placed his hands on her hips. His fingers dug into her skin, massaging, and she gave a little whimper.

“Adam, walk us through this.” Gansey met Adam’s eyes and watched his friend blow out a breath. Things were about to get very weird.

“No.” Blue sounded close to tears but her body betrayed what her voice said.

“Think of the story we’ll get to tell our daughter,” he whispered against her cheek.

“Is it one about how the EMTs show up and take me to a very clean hospital to have my baby?”

Adam cleared his throat from between Blue’s knees. “That’s not going to happen.”

Blue leaned back against Gansey’s chest and fumbled around for his hands.

“I’m scared,” she whispered.

“Performative masculinity,” he whispered back. She squeezed his hands and closed her eyes.

“You’re a dick.”

“I love you.”

xXx

“Dude, is that my sweater?” Ronan frowned down at the little bundle in Blue’s arms and held a piece of the material between two fingers.

“Now it’s Persephone’s,” Blue answered tiredly.

He huffed out a breath, shoved his hands in his pockets, and quickly kissed the top of Blue’s head. Ronan straightened up before anyone saw.

“Nice job, Mrs. Gansey.”

Blue laughed. “Go away.” He smiled, gently touched the top of Persephone’s head, and walked away. Blue was left alone with the baby on the stretcher that the EMTs had put her on just minutes before. Everything happened so quickly that there wasn’t really any time for her to be embarrassed about Adam being the one to deliver the baby. She made a mental note to make sure he wasn’t too traumatized about it later.

Gansey and Adam were talking to a police officer and Cam was sitting on the bumper of the Suburban, always observing. She watched as Gansey shook hands with the officer and then turned and walked to her. As he approached, Blue tipped her face up and he obliged her with a quick but blissful kiss.

“Adam,” Gansey started when he pulled away, but Adam held up his hand silencing him.  

“Don’t.”

“He’s not going to stop,” Blue whispered theatrically.

Adam sighed and leveled his gaze on Gansey. Instead of saying anything, Gansey just stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his friend. “Thank you,” Blue heard him say quietly.

“Bet you’re glad we never worked out, huh?” She grinned when they’d parted. Adam’s ears turned pink and he just shook his head at her.

“You’re as bad as Ronan,” Gansey accused her. Blue laughed and held her hand out to Gansey. Adam squeezed her knee and patted Gansey on the shoulder before he walked away.

“We’re going to load you in now. You’ll be riding along?” A female EMT appeared at Gansey’s side and he nodded.

“Daddy!” Cam’s voice caused them both to turn back to the car.

Gansey kissed the back of Blue’s hand quickly before he let go and made his way to their son. Cam jumped off the bumper and ran to him, practically leaping into his arms.

“Hey, I’m here,” Gansey said softly, his arms tight around his son. He’d been so worried about Blue and the baby that Gansey hadn’t even checked in on Cam yet. With a hand pressed to the back of his son’s head, Gansey placed a kiss on his messy dark hair.

“How’s Mama?” Cam asked against Gansey’s shoulder.

“She’s fine. Everything’s fine.”

Cam pulled back and touched his fingers to Gansey’s face. He watched Cam’s face for a moment, then Gansey smiled.

“I promise. A lot happened to day and you were very brave. You’re already a great big brother.”

“You were pretty brave, too.”

“After your pep talk.”

Gansey shifted Cam in his arms, even though he was almost too big to be carried on a hip, he did it anyway. He could see they were about to lift Blue and the baby into the bus, so he made his way quickly. Traffic had started to move again, though slowly as they were now slowing down to see why the side of the road was littered with an ambulance and police cars. Blue held out her hand, her smile was tired but big. Gansey leaned down and Blue gently touched Cam’s cheek.

“We’ll see you soon, okay?” she whispered.

“Love you, Mama.”

Gansey turned to find Ronan at his side, his eyes on Cam. “Come on, Junior Junior,” he said as he lifted Cam from Gansey’s arms and threw him over his shoulder. Cam laughed and Gansey took the opportunity kiss his son’s cheeks a few times. He loved the easiness that came with showing affection to Cam and Blue. Even to Adam and Ronan.

“See you at the hospital!” Ronan called as he carried Cam away. “We’re stopping for gelato!”

“Bring me some!” Blue yelled back.

They watched as Ronan loaded their son into the car and then put himself in the front seat. The EMTs put Blue into the bus and Gansey followed, sitting close and resting his hand on Persephone.

“She’s _small_. I don’t remember Cam being so small,” Gansey said as the vehicle made its way onto the road.

“It’s because he’s so big and smelly now.” Blue wrinkled her nose. She closed her eyes and felt Gansey’s fingers brushing her hair from her face.

“You were…wow.”

Blue smiled and caught his hand. “I’m afraid Adam’s been traumatized,” she whispered. Gansey chuckled.

“He’s the only one of us who had his head on straight. I owe him.”

“You do.”

“It’s kind of fitting, though. Don’t you think? That he be the one? I mean, _Persephone_.”

“Makes sense. Doesn’t mean that he really wanted to get up close and personal with all of you, however.”

Blue shuddered. “Hence the traumatization.”

“Better him than Ronan.”

She laughed. “He’d never let me live it down.”

“You bring a life into the world and Ronan Lynch complains about it for the rest of his,” Gansey mused.

Gansey looked down at the baby in Blue’s arms and smiled. His chest felt unusually tight and his eyes stung. The baby stirred as he stared at her and he found his cheeks wet with tears. Blue reached up and wiped his tears away, trying not to laugh.

“Another adventure,” she said softly. He smiled.

xXx

When Gansey walked into the waiting room at the hospital the amount of people standing and sitting around nearly made him want to turn right back around and lock himself, Blue, and the baby in the room alone. He’d grab Cam, too.

He took a deep breath as many heads turned toward him and plastered on a smile. Not that he wasn’t happy, because he was, but he didn’t want to talk to people. He just wanted to be with Blue and their kids and maybe Adam and Ronan. When they’d gotten to the hospital and as Blue and Persephone were being looked over and taken care of, he’d made phone calls, sent texts and emails, and worried.

Gansey knew there was nothing to worry about. Both Blue and Persephone had been deemed perfectly fine by the EMTs on scene, but he still liked to be sure. Now, they were both resting comfortably in a private room down the hall. Persephone was small, a couple of weeks early, with a shock of dark hair like Cam’s. Gansey marveled at how small she was as they cleaned, measured, and dressed her. She had been quiet, only protesting when they put her tiny arms in a hospital standard gown and then Gansey was holding her against his chest, and she was _there_ and warm and so beautiful.

It was Dean who saw him first. He was sitting in a hard plastic chair with Cam on his knee and Gansey only hoped whatever they were talking about had nothing to do with when they only knew him as Mr. Gray. Cam was next and, as he jumped up and ran toward Gansey, everyone else’s eyes followed.

The women of 300 Fox Way fired questions at him that Ronan, Adam, and Cam helped field. Maura gripped his arm when she asked about Blue and Gansey reassured her that everything was fine and great and absolutely perfect.

“Can we see Poppy yet?” Cam asked.

“Poppy, huh?” Gansey put his hand on the top of Cam’s head and his son smiled up at hm.

“Me and Calla talked about it.”

He met Calla’s eyes and she offered him a rare smile and an expected raised eyebrow, too.

“She looks like a Poppy,” Gansey agreed. He lifted Cam into his arms and looked at Maura. “Blue’s asking for you.”

Maura touched Cam’s head and Gansey’s shoulder as she passed. Calla followed but stopped and pressed her hand to the side of Cam’s face. He smiled beatifically at her and Calla’s smile in return was genuine and soft. It was something she saved only for Cam.

“Good to see you on your feet, Richie Rich,” Calla said with a little laugh. It wasn’t mean, but Gansey frowned anyway.

“Did you tell?” He turned on Cam and gently dug his fingers into his side. Cam giggled and pushed his hands away.

“I didn’t say anything!” Cam laughed. “I mean, I just told her I had to give you a pep talk. I did tell her what a chicken Uncle Ronan was, though.”

“Not such a snake now, are you?” Calla called over her shoulder.

Ronan just glared, first at Calla then at Cam. Cam shrugged.

“Can I meet my sister now? And see Mama? I feel like it’s time.”

“Yeah, I think it is time.”


	8. Out of Sorts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw an idea on the Insta and wanted to write it.

Gansey was in a hurry. He was also annoyed, tired, and, in Cam’s words, grumpy.

He slung his messenger bag over his shoulder and checked his watch, cursing to himself. The lecture had gotten out early, but the students had swarmed him after. They had questions about their final papers, exams, and other things that Gansey just couldn’t wrap his head around while they were actually asking them. When it was time to take off his “Professor Gansey” face and put on his “Cam’s Dad” face that’s all he wanted to do. And, currently, _that was all he wanted to do._

It was currently forty-five minutes past that time.

“Professor!” Gansey was nearly out the building when he heard his name. He groaned inwardly.

“Make an appointment, please.” With a wave of his hand, Gansey kept walking.

“Professor Gansey! Wait!”

Sighing, Gansey turned. It was a girl from his morning class. She was young and pretty in a very “college freshman” kind of way. When she finally reached him, she touched his forearm and smiled. Gansey nearly rolled his eyes.

“I was wondering if you could look at…” she trailed off, pulled her hand away, and dug through her bag.

Gansey felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. It was impatient in its buzzing.

“Office hours are listed on the syll-” he started to say, but she interrupted him.

“Oh, this will only take a minute!” She said as she gazed up at him hopefully from underneath her eyelashes.

Her perfume was strong, and he had to take a step back. He frowned and looked at his watch. “On the syllabus, Ms. Roberts,” Gansey said as he turned away from her.

“I’ll be really quick!” She grabbed his arm again and he stiffened. There were so many reasons why he, and older-but-not-old teacher, should not be seen in such a situation with a young female student. Gansey knew the culture of the times. He knew that sometimes it didn’t matter what the intention was, but that a situation could be misconstrued.

He also knew that he had a very, _very_ scary little wife.

“I was reading one of your papers and I had this really great idea and wanted to add it into mine,” she was still talking, but Gansey was done with it.

“That’s flattering. Again, you’ll find my office hours on my syllabus. Please email me for an appointment. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for my son’s soccer game.”

Thankfully, the field was not too far, and Gansey made it in record time. Though the game was nearly over when he did arrive and Gansey couldn’t even tell if they had been keeping score, he was glad he’d finally made it.

Blue was spotted quickly, spread out on a blanket toward the end of the field. She was a little away from the bleachers, but not because of anti-socialness. Of course, Ronan was next to her, so he couldn’t be sure. It was Persephone or, Poppy, as Cam and Calla had dubbed her, that saw him first. She’d just celebrated her first birthday. Poppy, as adorable as she was, had also stopped sleeping through the night.

Everyone at the Gansey home was a little grumpy these days.

Except Poppy. Because she got to nap. A lot. When she saw him she clapped, squealed, and reached her little hands up. Blue and Ronan turned as Gansey made his way to them. He kissed Blue’s head, clapped Ronan on the shoulder, and lifted Poppy into the air before holding her close and pressing a kiss to her wild dark hair.

“You’re late,” Blue said with her eyes on the field.

Gansey sighed. “I know.”

“Kid just went in,” Ronan said, hearing the moroseness in his voice. Blue elbowed him gently and he shrugged. “The guy’s sorry. Look at him. His tie is loose, he’s clearly a mess.”

Blue looked at him. It was true. Gansey tried to adjust his tie with one hand while he held Poppy in his other arm. It didn’t work out. Blue gave him a little forgiving smile as he made his way down the field. He hadn’t gone far before Cam saw him and starting waving wildly. Seeing the smile on his son’s face immediately calmed something in Gansey. Having Poppy warm against his chest grounded him. He inhaled deeply, breathing in the evening, and tried to exhale the stress of work and the feeling of just being _stuck_.

The game continued for a little while longer, though with young children it was always difficult to know who was winning or what was actually happening. Blue and Ronan cheered loudly, nonetheless, while Gansey kept Poppy occupied. Cam enjoyed playing and that was what was important to Gansey and Blue. They were letting him find out what he wanted to do and who he was and so far it seemed to be working well.

After, the five of them went for dinner. Adam called in the middle of pizza, so it really was a family affair. When they’d bid Ronan goodnight and finally made it home, Blue started with putting the kids to bed and Gansey started in on a stack of midterms. She knocked on the office door just as he’d finished a particularly gruesome one. It was going to be a long night.

“Cam’s asking for you,” she told him.

He made his way to their son’s room and found him curled up in bed with a stuffed raven (Chainsaw Two), his eyelids heavy. Gansey sat on the edge of the bed and brushed Cam’s hair from his face. Well, he tried to, but it just flopped back over his forehead. The little boy chuckled and snuggled deeper into his covers.

“I’m glad you made it to the game,” he said quietly. Gansey felt his heart constrict. _Had there been doubt that he wouldn’t?_

“Me too,” Gansey replied. “I’m sorry I was late.”

“You still made it.” Cam yawned and closed his eyes. His hand reached out from under his covers and he groped sleepily around until he found Gansey’s fingers. “Love you, Dad.”

Gansey took one of those deep, steadying breaths. “I love you.”

Blue was waiting for him in the hallway.

“You okay?” She asked, resting her hand on his chest. Her eyes searched his for a long moment.

“Yeah,” Gansey cleared his throat. “I’m just…I’m feeling a little out of sorts lately. It’s just the semester getting to me.”

“Do you want to…” she wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned in closer to him, “…turn in early?”

He made a low sound in his throat and bent down to kiss her. “I need to finish what I’m working on.”

She pouted but relented. “Don’t stay up too late. Or do. Poppy will probably be up soon.”

“ _Your_ daughter,” Gansey teased half-heartedly.

“One of us suffered from insomnia when they were younger and that one of us was not me.”

His smile was rueful. “You cured me. Work your magic, Jane.”

Blue stuck her tongue out at him before making her way down the hall to their bedroom. He sighed and turned back to the office, back to his work, and back to where he wasn’t sure he really wanted to be anymore.

xXx

Poppy _had_ woken up a few hours later, so Gansey carried her around his office while he read papers or set her in a bouncy seat on his desk. At one point they laid on the floor together, both too exhausted and stubborn to actually fall asleep.

It was late by the time he’d finally crawled into bed and wrapped himself up in Blue. She stirred just long enough to pull his arm over her body. What seemed like just a few minutes later, their day was starting. Breakfast was being made, lunches were being packed, shoes were lost (Blue’s, not Cam’s), and Gansey was already exhausted.

They parted ways, Blue off to work and taking Poppy with her, and Gansey dropping Cam off at school before heading to the university.

The day was long, and not much better than the one before. An after-hours department meeting had Gansey getting home after dinner and bedtime and, even though he knew Blue understood, he didn’t want to ever be the kind of husband who left the domestic things to his wife. He didn’t want to be the dad who misses his kids growing up either. _What was he doing?_

When he entered the front door, the house was quiet. It was charming house they’d bought a little over a year after Cam was born. A sturdy two-story brick thing with a big backyard and lots of potential. It was full of stuff from their travels, from Gansey’s journey, from their life in Henrietta. It was home, but it was also beginning to feel like it wasn’t.

In the kitchen the dishwasher was running and it was the only sound in the house. There was a faint light from upstairs that Gansey assumed was coming from he and Blue’s bedroom. He set his bag down on the couch and made his way to the kitchen for a drink or food or maybe to just stare out the window into the backyard for a minute or twenty.

On the island, though, was an unlabeled bottle next to a glass next to a box. The box, unlike the bottle, was labeled.

 _SORTS_ , it said in glittered letters. He touched it gently, smiling, before pulling out a stool and sitting at the small counter. First, he opened the bottle and poured a drink. Then, he opened the box. He smiled again.

“You said you were out of sorts, so I found some for you,” Blue’s voice was quiet behind him. Gansey turned and found her standing in the doorway of the kitchen in one of his t-shirts. Her hair was wild, like she’s washed it and let it air dry without brushing it. His smile stayed.

Gansey turned back around and took the first thing out of the box. He held it in front of him and took a sip from his drink. It went down smoothly. It tasted like mint.

“The bottle is from Ronan. He told me to be nice,” Blue said, coming up behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind. She pressed a soft kiss to the back of his neck.

“Did he sound sick?” Gansey joked.

“He worries about you,” she whispered to his skin.

He took a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. “What about this? From you?”

He looked at the first thing he’d pulled out. It was a picture of the two of them the day they got married at the Barns. They were _stupidly_ happy to be young and dumb and so, so in love.

“Mhm.” Blue guided her fingers through the hair on the back of his neck. “Cam helped with the box.”

Inside were more pictures. Pictures of them from Henrietta: the boys in their Aglionby sweaters, Cabeswater, cave diving. Then there were the ones with Henry, of Venezuela, their adventures: Blue on his shoulders in front of a Redwood tree, Henry with the stupid giant ball of yarn he wanted to see so badly. Gansey smiled as he looked through all of them, his heart warming as he started to feel a little more like himself. When he pulled out one of the last pictures, he could feel his eyes prick with tears. It was Cam, newly born and not even clean, resting in nothing but a thin hospital blanket and Gansey’s arms. Wow, could he remember that moment of holding his son for the first time. Of being terrified and elated and just in _awe_ of the life he got to have.

“Thank you,” Gansey whispered. Blue tightened her arms around him and slipped her hand inside his polo and over his pounding heart. He could feel her heartbeat against his back, her warmth and nearness like an anchor.

“There’s more.”

At the very bottom of the box was four little blue books: passports.

“Are we fleeing the country?” He teased, though part of him wished. Hoped.

She sighed quietly and he turned, pulling her between his legs by the hem of her shirt. Blue rested her hands on the sides of his face and then linked her fingers together on the back of his neck.

“I know that…this isn’t…” she trailed off and Gansey thought she looked like she was about to cry.

“Hey. Stop it. Don’t even finish your thought or sentence or whatever it is you’re going to say.”

“But if you know what I’m going to say, then it must be true!”

Gansey tugged her to him, burying his face in her neck, pressing his lips to her skin. His hands were tight on her hips. “It’s not. I swear.”

“I know _you_ , Richard Gansey,” Blue said quietly, but not sadly. “We’ve been here for a long time not really going anywhere. I know you’re feeling…stuck.”

“It’s not like that. I don’t want to just up and leave this place and our home and-”

“No, I know. I _know_ ,” she tried to reassure him. “I don’t mean it in like a _you’re running away_ kind of way. More like a _we’re running away_ kind of way. Does that make sense?”

“Yes. I think?”

“You and I always wanted the same thing: to travel, explore, see the world…”

He smiled and touched his thumb to her chin. “We did see it.”

“And now _our world_ is different, but we don’t have to stop wanting those things, Gansey.”

“Blue, we’ve got, you know, children. Little humans.”

“Yeah, as I was the person who carried them and then later _gave birth to them_ , I know. But I want them to know _us_. We are more than jobs and this house and this _place_ ,” she said with a wave her hand in the general direction of basically everything they’d built in the past eight or so years.

“What are you suggesting?”

“I don’t know, a gap year.”

“Gap year? I think we used up all of our gap years,” he teased, though not in a mean way.

“I can see it in your eyes, Gansey. I can feel it when we’re in bed and you’re not sleeping. Ronan can see it, too. ”

Gansey watched her for a long moment before he leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. He took a deep breath before saying what he had to say, because it was important. As much as he wanted to do _those_ things, he really needed her to know _this_ thing.

“I don’t want you to think that this life, _this life with you_ , is not what I want, because it is. It’s all I could ever hope for.”

Blue nodded silently against him. “I think it’s just time we took our little life on the road for a bit. Once school’s out and summer is here. A couple of months, maybe longer. I can work while we travel. You can do online courses and teach Cam. We can _not_ get pregnant with more babies just yet because the one we have doesn’t sleep and it’s kind of terrible.”

Gansey laughed at that last part and lifted his head to meet her gaze. “You would do that? Pack it all up and take it all somewhere?”

She shrugged. “It doesn’t have to be out of the country. We can get an RV. Camp. Hike.”

When he didn’t say anything, she leaned into him and rested her chin on his shoulder. Her arms were tight around him. She was shaking.

“I feel it, too,” Blue whispered and Gansey suddenly felt guilty for not realizing it. “Like, if this is home now…”

“Why does it hurt so bad?” Gansey smiled into her hair, using the words she’d said so long ago.

“You really think we can make it work?”

“This was your idea!”

“I know. God, I know.” She pulled away and swiped at her hair. “Yes. We can do this. Hey, do you think Henry is busy?”

Gansey frowned at her sudden change in subject. “Why, do you want to invite him over for dinner?”

“No, we might need a nanny for this trip.”

At that, he laughed and kissed her cheek before wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her even closer. “I think Henry and Cam in an RV is asking for trouble. That would be like asking Ronan…or my parents.”

Blue shuddered. “We can’t tell them. Not until we get everything lined up. Like, the day before we leave. They’d want to buy us the RV or come along or something.”

“Please, Jane. Ganseys don’t sleep outside.”

“We do,” she pointed out. He grinned at the collective Gansey-ness.

“We’re the weird ones.”

“Hm…so. Do you want to turn in early tonight?” She looked at him from underneath her lashes and he felt his heartbeat stutter a little bit. This girl, this _woman_ , who loved him and needed him and wanted to do crazy things like take their two young children on a road trip because she just _knew_ he needed it.

“I think,” he said before kissing her palm, “that is an excellent idea.”

“I’m full of them tonight, aren’t I?”

“I can’t wait to see what’s next.”


	9. Pick Up Lines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This started out as a joke and then it got sappy.

“Can you reach it?” Gansey called up to Cam, who was sitting on his shoulders and holding a dripping, soapy rag.

“I think?” Cam replied, but the aforementioned rag rested on the top of Gansey’s head and soap was beginning to slip into his eyes. “No. I don’t think.”

Gansey laughed and swiped at his eyes before lifting Cam off his shoulders and setting him down. They were supposed to be cleaning the RV after a romp through some dusty roads to get to the Grand Canyon, but no one was being much help. He’d tried to recruit Ronan and Adam, who’d just flown in a couple of days ago to explore the surrounding area with them, but neither one of them were being very helpful. Blue claimed matriarchal duty as her excuse. He told her she was a lousy feminist. She almost made him sleep outside after that.

“That’s all right.” Gansey swiped Cam’s hair to the side in an attempt to fix it, adjusted his glasses, and patted his backside, shooing him away. They’d spent the morning at the pool of the campground they were parked at and both were in board shorts, tan and lean. Cam went back to the picnic table that was under the RV’s awning where he’d set up a bunch of LEGOs that Ronan and Adam had brought him. Blue and Gansey tried to limit screen time while they were traveling, except for educational stuff, and sometimes it was hard to keep the kids entertained, and new distractions were always welcomed. Gansey went to back to washing windows, trying not to be annoyed that no one was offering to help him. Instead, they sat a few feet away from where Cam was, on a blanket and chairs set up in the shade of some trees. The campground wasn’t very crowded, but it seemed like someone new showed up every day they were there.

“Has Dick been working out?” Ronan’s voice was casual, but Blue could tell that the casualness was forced. She glanced up from feeding Poppy little pieces of watermelon that were mostly dripping all over her front instead of going in her mouth. Blue followed his gaze and smiled wryly. Gansey was inspecting the windshield of their home-away-from-home. Shirtless. Sweaty. _Hot_.

“Are you checking out my man, Lynch?” Her question was punctuated with a tiny piece of watermelon flicked at him.

“No,” Ronan said at the same time Adam said, “He is.”

Blue threw another piece of fruit at Ronan.

Ronan scowled. “Look at him, he’s like ultimate hot dad right now. I’m surprised all these other people aren’t watching him. I mean, he’s managed to grow facial hair!”

Blue glanced at Gansey, who did have a bit of a five o’clock shadow, and then covertly looked around the rest of the campground. It wasn’t too busy, though people had come and gone since they’d arrived two days ago. A couple of older ladies had come out and were sitting in lawn chairs, sipping cocktails and just…watching. Cam played quietly a few feet away from Blue while Gansey continued to scrub the vehicle in his boardshorts and flipflops, oblivious. The weeks they’d spent crossing the country, hiking, swimming in lakes, and floating down rivers kept his skin sun-kissed and perfect. It was his vanity that kept him tone and fit. That, and he knew that Blue liked it when he took his shirt off. It was a nice incentive.  

“Want to have some fun?” Ronan grinned and turned to Blue. Adam sighed heavily from his other side.

“Come on, Ro…” Adam started, but Ronan ignored him quite magnificently and cleared his throat.

“Damn, Gansey. Back at it again!” Ronan yelled loudly.

“Looking good, Richard-Man!” Blue followed his lead.

Gansey turned, cocking his head to the side. His hair was damp from the pool or sweat or trying to let his kid help, and had fallen over his forehead, so he flipped it back with just a little twitch of his head. Blue groaned and bit her lip. Ronan laughed a little and sat up straighter in his chair.

“Hey, Dick!” He called to his friend.  

“Yeah?” Gansey’s return was apprehensive.

“Are you from Tennessee?”

He frowned and looked around, waiting for the punchline.

“No? You know I’m from Vir-”

“Well that ass is the only TEN I SEE!”

Adam put a hand over his face and Blue snorted. Even Cam looked up from his LEGO set, probably more because he heard a swear word than knowing what was going on. Gansey’s shoulders slumped a little and he shook his head.

“Oh, let me try!” Blue whispered loudly.

Ronan gesticulated in a _go on_ way.

“Oh, Richard?”

They could visibly see Gansey’s sigh.

“Yes, Jane?”

“Did it hurt?”

“Did what hurt, darlin’?” _How dare he._

“When you fell from heaven?” 

 _That_ made Gansey palm his face and disappear behind the RV. He stood there for a moment trying to wrap his head around Blue and Ronan catcalling him. He was used to their shenanigans, yeah, but he just wasn’t quite sure what was happening. Part of him was flattered but the rest of him was feeling a little objectified. Of course, he couldn’t very well complain about being objectified to Blue. She’d give him an earful of women’s rights if he did. Gansey took a long time to think while he scrubbed the side of the RV that was out of sight from them. It was a large vehicle, new and environmentally friendly enough for Blue, and it gave him plenty of time to stall. 

Eventually, he returned to the other side where he would be in full view of them again. For a second, he thought about going into the camper and grabbing a shirt, but he didn’t want to waste clean laundry. Anywhere they went they one of them always ended up spending at least a day with a bag full of quarters making sure everyone had clean underwear. Cam had volunteered to go without, but his mother had quickly vetoed that.

“Aw, yeah. Here he comes. Ow owwww!” Ronan’s voice was decidedly not quiet as Gansey rounded the front of the RV.

“Oh, Jesus,” Adam sighed and pushed himself out of his folding chair. “I’m going to get this one cleaned up.” He bent down and picked up Poppy, who seemed more than fine to be sitting in a puddle of watermelon juice with bits of fruit all over her adorable face.

Ronan and Blue continued to trade in pickup lines for the next few minutes, each of them trying to best the other. Eventually, Cam got up and went inside the RV, abandoning his LEGOs for some peace and quiet. More people had started to come out or were walking the roads to the pool or back to their campers. Some of them laughed or gave them weird looks before glancing at Gansey who was still managing to dutifully ignoring them.

It wasn’t until Blue started to say something that Gansey just _knew_ had a particularly filthy punchline that he finally spoke up.

“Oh, will you please stop yelling vulgar things in front the children?” He cried before slamming his hand down on the hood of the RV for effect.

Blue stifled a laugh, though Ronan looked affronted. “How dare you call Adam a _child_.”

Adam, having heard his name stuck his head out the door, frowning. “Beg your pardon? I’m an adult.”

The laugh that Blue had been holding in finally escaped as Adam was wearing a bandana around his head, an eyepatch, and punctuated each of his words with the thrust of his plastic sword. She leaned into Ronan, cackling and clutching at his shirt.

“I can’t breathe,” she wheezed. Gansey just shook his head.

“You two are trouble.” He pointed a sponge at him. “Adam, you are definitely an adult. And a very convincing looking pirate. Thank you for caring for the innocent children.”

“No problem. Hey, how much candy is too much candy?”

Cam shrieked loudly from the depths of the RV and Gansey flinched at the high-pitched sound.

“Jesus Christ.”

xXx

Blue sat on an overlook, her knees pulled to her chest and her chin resting lightly on them. From where she sat, she could see everyone: Adam and Cam, examining leaves and Cam writing things down in the little journal he’d brought along. (Sometimes he was so much like Gansey it was scary.) A little way down the path Gansey stood with Ronan, Poppy strapped into a complicated hiking backpack with the shade pulled over her head. She reached forward a few times while Blue watched, sometimes grabbing for Gansey’s overgrown hair and sometimes the collar of his shirt. Each time he gently pried her little fingers off and pretended to bite them while making nomming sounds in her direction. Poppy giggled ridiculously at her father.

The view was amazing, but _this_ was all she could see. God, she was still so stupidly in love with Richard Gansey.

He wasn’t much different than he was when they were teenagers, but he was different in the best ways. Humble, easy going, _real_. Gansey could still work a crowd or a room or whatever, but most of the time he found he didn’t need to. He rarely put on a face anymore. Fatherhood had changed him, and it was a glorious thing to watch each and every day.

She watched as Cam ran to him, holding out his journal. Gansey took it and flipped through the pages, then he mussed Cam’s hair and bent down to kiss the top of his head. This easiness with affection was something she appreciated so much. Blue was one who thrived on little things like holding hands, hugs, or kisses. She loved that Gansey gave them so freely.

Adam had bent down to tell something to Cam and her son’s smile was glowing. These relationships they’d formed, all her boys, had become so special. Adam stepped to one side of Gansey while Ronan stood on the other. Cam continued to search the ground for flowers or leaves or bugs. Ronan dipped his head, then pulled his phone out of his pocket. Blue’s heart leaped in her chest. She’d been waiting for _this_. Blue had the good fortune of being the one both Adam and Ronan told things to instead of Gansey. Truth was, Richard Gansey was not good at keeping secrets. When Adam and Ronan had decided to get married a few years before, Gansey told most of Virginia, so they didn’t let him in on this little secret. Only Blue.

“We want to tell you something,” Adam said quietly.

Gansey raised an eyebrow behind his sunglasses. “Am I dying? Again?”

Ronan made a noise in the back of his throat. “Not funny, Dick.”

He laughed at his own joke and clapped Ronan on the shoulder. “I’m kidding. Kind of. What is it?”

Adam nodded to Ronan, who held out his phone to Gansey. Poppy’s little hands clapped either side of his neck, but Gansey was too engrossed in what was on the screen. It was a little girl. Young, probably two or three. She had curly blonde hair and big blue eyes and she kind of looked like a little bit of trouble.

“Did you…Ronan, did you…?” Gansey trailed off, wondering how he could form the words because she looked _so much_ like…both of _them_.

“No. I didn’t.” Ronan shook his head and Gansey looked from the phone to his friend. “It’s legal. Real.”

“She’s ours,” Adam told him with a small smile.

Gansey blew out a breath. “Oh.”

“You aren’t going to cry, are you?” Ronan frowned and Gansey gave a little breathless laugh.

“I was thinking about it, you asshole,” he laughed before pulling his friend into a tight hug. It was awkward, given Poppy on his back and her grabby little hands. When he released Ronan, he turned to Adam and, though he and Adam were normally fist-bumpers or hand-shakers, he couldn’t help but pull him close too.

“Wow.” Gansey pushed his sunglasses up and wiped away a tear. Ronan was smiling giddily, though he couldn’t tell if it was because Gansey was crying or because they’d finally gotten to tell him about her: their daughter. “How long have you known?”

“Just a couple of weeks for sure,” Adam shoved his hands in his pockets. “It’s been a process. We didn’t want to say anything in case it didn’t work out.”

“You knew, didn’t you?” Gansey glanced over at Blue, who had quietly joined them. She shrugged.

“You’re really bad at secrets,” she teased and slipped an arm around Adam’s waist. He patted her hair, like Noah used to and rested his arm on her shoulders.

It had been hard for them to go into the process, but it was something they both wanted- and were ready for. Opal stayed in Cabeswater the majority of the time and, while they loved her dearly, it wouldn’t be the same. It wasn’t the same.

“Her name is Josephine. She just turned three,” Ronan told him.

“Josie,” Gansey said in that way he said things.

Adam and Ronan exchanged a look, then they both nodded. “Josie.”

Cam handed Gansey his journal again, its pages full of notes and pictures and taped-in leaves from their trip. It was small enough that Gansey could fit it in his back pocket, so he did, and Cam reached for his hand.

“Next time we take a trip, Josie should come with us,” Cam said to no one in particular. They hadn’t even realized he’d been listening.

“Are you doing that weird, psychic thing right now kid?” Ronan asked suspiciously.

Cam narrowed his eyes at him in a look that was so very _Blue_ that it almost made Ronan recoil.

“No,” he huffed a little. “I just have really good hearing.”

“Hm,” was all Ronan said while the others tried not to laugh.

They started back up the path and Cam let go of Gansey’s hand so he could walk with Ronan. Blue took her son’s place, slipping her fingers effortlessly into Gansey’s, with Adam on her other side. Everything felt right.

“So, you think she’ll like traveling, huh?” Ronan asked after a moment of walking. His voice was soft and curious, he glanced back at the others with a small quirk to his lips. 

Cam nodded and looked up at him with a big, brilliant smile. He reached out and took Ronan’s hand. It was easy, a reflex for both of them. Blue squeezed Gansey’s hand in response.

“She’s going to love you a lot, too.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. That’s one of those weird, psychic things. In case you were wondering.”

Gansey laughed quietly. They were all so used to believing anything Cam said that this little comment didn’t faze any of them as they made their way through the trail. Blue let go of Gansey’s hand so she could adjust Poppy’s cover. When she was done, he slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to his side.

“Are you tired?” He whispered to her hair.

She shook her head.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because.” Gansey grinned. “You’ve been running through my mind _all_ day.”


	10. Backseat Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some BC teenage things. :)

"What do you want to do? With your life, I mean. Really," Blue's voice was quiet, even a little melancholy with the question. It wasn't that she didn't want an answer, because she did. But also, maybe she didn't, just a little.

It was late afternoon and she was leaning against the driver side door of the Camaro with her bare feet in Gansey's lap. Her eyes were closed and a little trickle of sweat slid down her collarbone that Gansey found very distracting. When he didn't answer, Blue opened her eyes and caught him staring.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Um…"

Blue just laughed and pushed against his tan thighs with her feet. Her toes were a bright red color that she'd picked up from the gas station two states ago. Gansey had painted them for her one night after their exploring had left her with a particularly nasty sunburn. He'd also brought her water, aloe, and pain reliever. She'd laid her head in his lap in the dim motel room while he held a map in one hand and his other hand trailed fingers though her hair.

Now, he shrugged and placed a hand on her knee, unbothered.

"What was the question?" Gansey grinned, not sorry at all for being ridiculously attracted to her.

"When we have to go back. What do you want to do?"

He put his head back against the passenger seat, his fingers drawing circles on Blue's knee. His other hand rubbed a thumb under his lower lip. Blue couldn't see his eyes through his dark sunglasses, but she could tell in the tightness of his jaw and the way he took a few deep breaths through his nose that she'd asked him something he wasn't ready to talk about.

"Be with you," Gansey said quietly after a moment.

"Gansey," Blue sighed.

"Blue," he sighed back.

Blue sat up straight and pulled her knees into her own seat and up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and stared at him until he turned to her. Gansey raised his sunglasses to rest on top of his head, his hazel eyes were bright, and his face was honest.

"I love you."

Her heart seemed to skip a beat when he said it, no matter how many times she'd heard those words from Richard Gansey. It wasn't, however, what she wanted to hear now. They'd been on the road for a few weeks and acting like this was all they had to do. Blue knew better, though. She heard the phone calls from Gansey's parents. Hell, she had phone calls with her own mother about the future, too. They wanted answers that the two of them were not ready to give just yet. They'd agreed on a gap year and it had only been a gap-couple-of-months.

"I know."

"But that's not what you asked, so." He shifted in his seat and held out his hand. She took it, threading their fingers together and letting her eyes travel up to where his t-shirt hugged his bicep quite nicely.

"I know it'll be hard if we aren't at the same school, but…"

"We'll make it work, Jane."

"What if you're off at Harvard or somewhere studying business and you meet some daughter of a senator or someone blonde and-"

Gansey leaned over and put his hand over her mouth to shut her up. The gear shift was digging into his leg as he tried to get as close as possible without joining her in the seat. Blue laughed a little beneath his hand, then stuck her tongue out against his palm.

"Ugh, gross," Gansey groaned, but he was grinning stupidly. He moved forward and hovered over her, one hand on the door and the other on the side of her face.

Blue gazed up at him, feeling nervous. This closeness, this nearness, this  _kissing_ …it was all still so new to them. Gansey's thumb brushed over her cheek and she could almost  _hear_  him swallow. She could feel his breath on her face, mint and the iced coffee that was still sitting between them. Blue lifted her hands tentatively, her fingers threaded through his hair and pulled him just a little bit closer. The first brush of their lips was soft, cautious. Every kiss started this way; with just a whisper. Then it was more. It was everything, every single time. It was all-consuming. With hands in hair and under shirts and lips between teeth. It was dizzying and scary to feel so much.

Gansey's hand slipped a little from where it held him up on the door and he nearly fell forward but caught himself just in time. Blue put a hand on his chest and pushed him away, breathless. She laughed and kissed his chin, scraping her teeth along his jawline when he didn't pull away. Gansey groaned and fell back into this seat, massaging his thigh where the gearshift had dug into it.

"Sorry," he breathed the word.

Blue rolled her eyes.

"Are you apologizing for changing the subject or for the future blonde?"

"I'm not really into blondes." His lips quirked up and he ran a hand over his face.

"Richard," she tried the word quietly, just his name, and he turned to her, smiling.

"Yes, Blue?"

"This thing…this "true love". I just-"

"I know." He shrugged simply. Something she found a little frustrating.

"I know we're young and I'm not saying that it all has to happen  _right_ now. I just want you to know that I just don't think there's going to be anyone else for me."

Gansey sighed and looked out the windshield. They were parked at an overlook and the sun was beginning to set, throwing shades of pink and orange across the sky. Henry was hiking with some friends he'd met in the park, but Blue and Gansey were tired and desperate for some alone time.

"I think," he drawled in that lovely way he said things sometimes, "that when psychics all over Virginia tell you that you're destined to be with someone you should probably listen."

"Actually, they said I was destined to kill you. With my mouth," Blue pointed out.

He nodded. "And you did."

They were silent for a moment, then, just a quiet little noise escaped Blue. She tried to hold it in, to cover her mouth with her hand, but it was there. A laugh. Gansey grinned at the sound and reached for her hand again.

"You're the only one for me, Jane."

"It won't be easy."

"Yeah, because this past year has been a walk in the park."

"We're in a park now," she told him.

"Too true. Shall we walk?"

Blue looked at him, then glanced at the tiny backseat. She grinned and practically catapulted herself between the two seats before reaching for him and pulling him into the seat with her. They were a mess of arms and legs, sticky in the heat and humidity. This feeling still felt new and, though they knew that one day it wouldn't, today wasn't that day. They were in love and it was  _good_.

They situated themselves, this not being the first time they'd climbed into the backseat of the Camaro and fell silent with their chest pressed together and Blue's thigh hitched up over Gansey's. His fingers were fire on her skin, one hand on her thigh and the other holding her to him. She brushed her lips against his softly and ran a hand through his hair.

"We could go to the same school," Gansey suggested quietly.

Blue frowned. "No, we can't."

Gansey closed his eyes and made a low noise in the back of his throat. Instead of arguing he pressed himself closer to Blue, mouth searching for hers. She relented, quicker than he thought she would, and slipped her hand under his shirt, fingers dancing lightly on his skin.

It was at that moment, that there was a knocking on the roof of the car. They pulled away, abruptly startled.

"Should I come back later?" Henry's voice came through the open window and Blue buried her burning face in Gansey's neck.

He wrapped his arms around her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "No, it's fine," Gansey laughed a little, frustrated at being distracted (which was his own fault) and at being interrupted. He knew there would be plenty more moments for frivolity and silliness and being in love.

And hopefully some time to talk about the big things, too.


	11. Tent Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More teenage stuff because I love these kids.

“Do you want to have sex with me or not?”

Gansey looked up abruptly from where he was reading by lantern light. He and Blue were crammed into the small tent they’d been sharing for parts of their cross- country trip. His glasses had slipped on his nose, so he pushed them up and focused on Blue, his mouth hanging open in shock. She was in a tank top and a pair of _his_ clean boxers, finding that she liked to sleep in them more than anything else. Her hair wasn’t washed, she wasn’t wearing makeup or a bra, and they’d both just tried to clean themselves up in the small bathroom of the campground they were in.

They’d been on the road for a long while, stopping at motels or campgrounds or hostels wherever they could. Blue, Gansey, and Henry all had passports ready and plane tickets waiting for them in California, but they were having a good time getting there. For the most part, the three of them shared hotel rooms and bunk beds when they had to. The tents were small, though, and Henry didn’t mind being on his own sometimes.

Gansey and Blue were learning more about each other than they probably cared to know just yet, but it was all fine. Especially when there were nights like these, under the stars. The fact that Blue had even asked him _that_ was a ludicrous thought. 

 _Of course_ he wanted to, but he couldn’t say it. Not like she had.

“I don’t under…what?”

Blue swiped at her hair, frustrated. Gansey sat up and crossed his legs in front of him. Their knees touched and, though no one had probably ever thought knees were sexy, in this moment they were a little.

“We’ve been on the road for months. We’ve been _kissing_ and _you know_ ,” she said intentionally. Gansey did know. It had been a wonderful few months. “But, like, is that all?”

“That’s all there is,” Gansey replied, trying and failing to make a joke. Sometimes if Gansey laughed at his own death it was easier to come to terms with it. Blue rolled her eyes and grabbed his book to smack him with it. “Ow,” he muttered as she tossed the weapon on his sleeping bag.

She pointed a finger at him. “First of all, not funny. Second, I’m serious.”

“Do you really think that I _don’t_ want to be with you that way?” He asked softly. She met his gaze in the dim light and then looked away, her bottom lip between her teeth.

“I don’t know,” Blue whispered.

Gansey sighed and rested a hand on her bare knee. She shifted her gaze to his fingers, gentle but sure on her skin. Every touch felt so natural to her. Like _finally_ she knew what it was like to belong. Blue met his eyes.

“I don’t know how these things work,” she confessed. “I’ve never dated and, not that we can call this _dating_ , whatever we’re doing or will do or have done. Stupid time. I don’t know what to expect.”

When he didn’t say anything, she went on.

“I just know how I feel and that I…I _want_ you. In all the ways you can want a person.” She kept her eyes on his as she spoke, and Gansey could see the color rise in her cheeks. He was too enthralled by her boldness to say anything and he really didn’t want to say the wrong thing when she’d laid her heart out like she’d had.

He took a deep breath. “I want you, too,” he finally whispered.

Blue met his gaze and breathed a little sigh of relief.

“That’s good.”

“Yes.”

“Then why-”

Gansey interrupted her before she had any time to doubt. “I’ve never done this before, Blue.”

“This? What do you mean, _this_?” Blue’s eyes were narrowed. She knew he had dated before. The boys had talked about it, though not much as it hadn’t really been an important topic of conversation during their quest. There were always little hints though. Little teases and whatnots that Gansey led another life she didn’t know much about.

“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?” Gansey frowned. He looked so young in the dim light as he blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair, avoiding her eyes.

“Gansey? Are you…” she trailed off, feeling confused at his question. “Babe. Are you a virgin?”

After she said it, she grinned, not even needing him to answer, as if finding out this little bit of information about Richard Gansey was the best thing that happened to her that day.

He glared at her. She was delighted.

“There’s just not a lot of time to _do that_ when you’re looking for dead Welsh kings,” Gansey muttered.

Blue continued to smile at him for a long moment, until he huffed and tried turned away from her, but she caught his shirt and tugged him to her. They tumbled back onto Blue’s sleeping bag, both laughing quietly.

“I love that about you. Like we waited for each other. True love and all that nonsense.” Blue ran her fingers through his hair and rested a hand on the back of his neck, pulling him into a kiss. There was something urgent about the kiss that left him aching and breathless.

“I want to,” he said after he pulled away. “God, do I want to.”

Gansey sighed and kissed Blue’s cheek, resting his face in the crook of her neck. His breath was hot on her skin and her body reacted in the way it had been reacting for months when they got this close.

“You drive me crazy,” she whispered, desperately trying to get closer to him. She rested her hand on his chest and then grasped the front of his shirt, just a little.

“Ha!” Gansey pulled back, resting himself on his elbow next to her, their legs intertwined. “You’re over here in _my_ underwear and you think I’m not losing my mind?”

She leaned on her elbow, mirroring him and still trying to get closer. Their stomachs were pressed together.

“Do something about it.” Her statement was a challenge and his response a low groan. He dipped his head and kissed her bare shoulder.

“Here? In this tiny tent with Henry sleeping ten feet away?”

“I am not sleeping, dear friends!” Henry called, his voice muffled through the layers of nylon and the few feet separating them.

Blue immediately ducked her face into Gansey’s chest and gave a little squeal of embarrassment. Gansey’s body shook with his laughter. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled onto his back, bringing Blue against his side with her head on his chest.

“Good luck with your endeavors! Let me know if you’d like me to stay somewhere else one night!”

“Oh, God,” Blue muttered into Gansey’s shirt. She wrapped an arm around him and held herself close to his warm body. “I’m so embarrassed.”

“Don’t be,” Gansey whispered. “It’s just Henry. We saw him vomit funnel cake after he rode the Tilt-a-Whirl in Kansas. That’s way worse than wanting to have sex with me.”

She snorted and closed her eyes. “It’s not so bad.”

“Vomiting in public? Oh, Jane.”

“Shut up.”

Gansey reached down and took Blue’s hand, threading their fingers together and resting their joined hands on his chest.

“Maybe,” he said quietly, “maybe when we get to Venezuela, we can take some time for ourselves. Stay in the city a few days.”

“That sounds nice,” she whispered to their hands. His heartbeat thundered beneath her cheek and she could feel hers pounding out the same rhythm. Gansey kissed the top of her head and tightened his arm around her.

To put it out there, to say it with intention, made them both nervous in ways they’d never felt with anyone. It was something that both scared and thrilled them at the same time. Taking their relationship to the next level, to that level, was inevitable, of course. That didn’t make it any less nerve-wracking for the two of them. It was obvious that they were trying not to think about it as the laid there in the too warm tent, but eventually they’d fallen asleep wrapped up in each other.

xXx

 

It didn’t happen the way they’d planned. Honestly, they should have known better than to try to plan it anyway. It was California, not Venezuela. And it was raining.

_“Doesn’t it always rain in the movies?” Blue had teased._

It was awkward but not weird, with bumped heads and bumped noses and laughing.

_“Is it supposed to be this funny?” Gansey had whispered._

There were tears and sweet, lovely whispers. Afterwards they’d laughed some more and snuggled under the thin covers in the little motel room and listened to the rain. Gansey told a story about the ley line and Blue traced shapes on his chest with her fingers.

Everything felt stronger after that. _More._

They were just fine with it.


	12. Prenatal Conversations

“Jane?” Gansey called as he closed the door to the apartment he and Blue lived in. “Are you here?”

There was a muffled sound from the direction of the living room, so Gansey followed it. Blue was there, face up on a yoga mat with her feet pulled closer to her body, knees bent. She had one arm slung over her eyes, a hand rested on her belly, and her hair was going everywhere.

“Blue?” His voice was concerned as he neared her. “Is everything okay?”

“Ugh, fine.” Blue gestured to the television where she had paused something mid-scene. There was a very pregnant woman in a semi flexible yoga position.

Gansey turned his head as if it would help him understand it better, but he was not quite sure how such a pregnant woman could do what this woman was doing.

“I was just trying to…you know,” she said with a wave of her hand. Gansey didn’t know, but he nodded like he did. “Help?” Blue held out a hand but instead of helping her up, he joined her on the floor, laying next to her with their shoulders touching.

“Prenatal yoga, huh?” He bumped her a little with his body.

Blue sighed. “I got dizzy.”

Gansey reached down and braided their fingers together. “Did you eat?”

She made a sound that he couldn’t really decipher. It was either annoyance at him assuming she hadn’t eaten or annoyance at something else he’d done. Lately it was hard to tell what she was annoyed at.

“So…?”

“Kind of? I’ve snacked.” He felt her shoulder shrug against his. “I thought morning sickness was supposed to go away after the first trimester!”

Gansey let go of her hand and turned so he was on his side. He propped himself up on an elbow and gazed down at her for a long moment. Then he kissed her.

“I’m sorry,” he said against her lips. She pushed him away, but she was smiling.

“You should be,” she grumbled. “Your DNA is weird.”

“Says the girl whose dad is a tree.”

They laughed quietly, smiling dumbly at each other. Blue closed her eyes and turned her face toward his. Gently, Gansey let his fingers dance along the hem of her shirt. He wanted to touch her so badly, but something about her _like this_ made his so nervous.

“Is this okay?” He asked softly, his fingers stilled on her skin.

Blue opened her eyes and was startled to see that his face was worried.

“Yes. Of course.” Her response was a little breathless but only because his question was so proper. His fingers brushed her taut skin.

There were obviously moments in their relationship when they were very much less than proper, but since they found out Blue was pregnant Gansey had become more cautious with his words and actions.

“You don’t…” Blue trailed off, unsure of how to say it without offending him. “You don’t have to ask, okay? It’s just me.”

He frowned. “I just want to be respectful of _your_ body, I guess.”

“I know. But, like, and this is totally archaic, but I’m _yours_ , Gansey. This baby is _ours_.”

When he didn’t respond she lifted her shirt up a little and covered his hand with her own. He watched their hands together for a moment.

“Mine, huh?” Gansey’s mouth quirked up. Blue rolled her eyes.

“I knew I shouldn’t have said it that way.”

“No, I like it.” His smile was a full-blown grin now and she was deeply regretting what she’d said.

“Stop, you know what I meant.”

“Yes, of course,” Gansey teased. “Me man. You woman,” he said in his best caveman voice.

“Gansey!” Blue was trying not to laugh as she sat up and pushed his hand away. He sat up with her.

“Hey.” He caught her hand and kissed her palm, then held it to his cheek. “I love you. I just want to make sure you’re okay with it.”

“I’m not breakable, you know,” she whispered.

“No, I know. You’re one of the strongest women I’ve ever met. I’m glad you’re mine.”

Blue gave him a rueful smile.

“Your words, you know.”

“Ugh.”

“I just…I want to be respectful. I know that your body is changing in ways you have no control over. I also know that sometimes pregnant women get a lot more attention than they want and that often includes unwarranted touching. Just because you’re pregnant doesn’t give anyone the right to judge or touch your body without your permission.”

“Oh, my God. I’ve created a feminist.”

Gansey laughed as he stood, helped Blue up off the floor, and led her to the couch. They curled together with Blue’s head on his shoulder and their knees overlapping.

“You’re my wife. I support all of your causes.”

“Hm,” Blue hummed a little and it vibrated through him. “That’s still weird.”

“I know,” he whispered. He kissed the top of her head and reached for her left hand with his. They both wore thin bands of braided gold, a gift from Ronan. He could be such a sap sometimes.

Well, they wore them unless they were with Gansey’s family. Then they wore nothing. Because he still hadn’t told them about their impromptu wedding. 

“Are your parents coming over this weekend?” She asked quietly. Gansey grunted in response. He ran his fingers through her hair while she worked out what she wanted to say next. “Are you…”

“I don’t know, Blue.”

She sighed. “Okay.”

Blue didn’t know why it was so hard to tell his parents they’d gotten married. Maybe it was because they’d want to have a big proper wedding. Or because they’d think that they had only gotten married because Blue was pregnant, which wasn’t true at all.

“I love my family.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want them to turn this into something about them, if that makes sense. I don’t want them to think we only got married because of the baby and us have to, like, provide proof or something ludicrous like that.”

“Okay.”

“You say okay, but…”

Blue laughed and pulled her head from his shoulder, looking him in the eye. She touched his face gently and he leaned into her hand, closing his eyes.

“Everything feels so fragile right now. Not broken or breaking, just _new_. I’m okay with waiting as long as you are. It’s been almost four months and I’m pretty sure I called you my roommate to some guy in my class yesterday.”

Gansey opened, then narrowed his eyes. “Don’t make me go real caveman on someone, Jane.”

“He’s not my type.”

“You mean, he’s not me?”

“Yes, of course.”


End file.
